Take Your Breath
by ThatOnePsycho
Summary: Missing an arm, missing most of her power base, The Maker only knows how far from Thedas and stopping Solas. What did it say about Ruby's life that this still wasn't the worst situation she had been in? Now if she could only keep from going insane from boredom until Dagna got a working prosthetic going...
1. Chapter 1

_Blake stalked around the room, glaring at the bars in the windows of her cell._

 _Ok, so it wasn't really a cell, outside of the bars (Which looked like they had been bolted to the wall in a rush), it was a rather fancy room, but Blake knew they were holding her here._

 _Of course she would get captured on her last mission. But by who? She didn't think the Schnees owned a castle._

 _She also didn't think they had a room that seemed tailor made for her. The bookshelf had series she liked, the wardrobe had clothing in her size, and a variety of ribbons._

 _She had woken up here two days ago, after being ambushed on the disconnected train cart by a boy wearing a ridiculous hat._

 _Blake turned as the door opened, allowing her a view of the guards on either side of it. If only she had Gambol Shroud._

 _A third guard looked at her, "Madame Belladonna," his voice was thick with an accent, "there is someone here to see you, if you are willing?"_

 _Like she had a choice._

" _Ok."_

 _He nodded, stepping aside to allow her 'guest' in._

 _The woman walked in. A yellow dress swished around her feet._

" _Hello, Blake."_

 _Blake didn't answer her, merely watching her move._

" _I am Josephine Montilyet, I'm sorry for the last couple of days. I had meant to meet you when you first arrived, but something came up, and, well-"_

" _What do you want?"_

 _The warm smile on Josephine's face faltered slightly, before picking back up._

" _I'm here to answer any questions you might have," Josephine sat on one of the chairs, looking at the trey on the table, "You haven't eaten?"_

" _I haven't been hungry," Blake lied._

 _Josephine stopped, before continuing, "very well. I'm sure you have questions, go ahead and ask them."_

" _Who are you, and what do you want from me?"_

" _We are the Inquisition, and we just wanted to speak with you. I am truly sorry about your rude arrival, but most of the Inner Circle had to leave to deal with something, and those who remained are not exactly the best at social interaction."_

" _Well, we're talking, now what?"_

" _Now I answer any other questions you have, and then I take you to meet the Inquisitor. She has wanted to talk to you for a while."_

" _How about we skip right to that," Blake said, already thinking of using this as an opportunity to sneak away._

" _If that is what you want," Josephine stood up, adjusted her dress, and gestured for Blake to follow._

 _When they reached the bottom of the tower, any plan Blake had for escaping without a weapon died. Guards stood all around the hall, and Blake had no choice but to follow Josephine past the throne, carved from the skull of some great beast, and up the tower opposite from hers._

 _At the top, Josephine knocked the door, and a muffled call to come in responded._

 _Josephine pushed open the door, before turning to leave Blake with the 'Inquisitor'._

 _Blake immediately noticed Gambol Shroud sitting on a desk across the room from her, sitting next to an ornate sword. Would she be able to reach it before her captor-_

" _Blake, come over here a second before you grab Gambol Shroud, would you?"_

 _That was a 'no'._

 _Blake walked to the open balcony, where the other inhabitant of the room was resting, right hand on the railing. A red cloak covered the rest of her body._

 _The Inquisitor was a young woman, around Blake's age. Brown hair brightened to red towards the tips._

" _Hello?"_

" _Sorry, give me a couple of minutes, I only just got back less than an hour ago."_

 _The Inquisitor breathed in, eyes locked onto the grounds of the keep._

" _I hope the guards treated you well at the very least?"_

" _Yes," Blake grudgingly admitted, they hadn't really interacted with her beyond bringing her food._

" _Good," she muttered, sounding unfocused, "good. I'm sorry about all this, it really wasn't what I had planned."_

" _Then what did you have planned?"_

" _We were going to ask you to come in willingly, and we would have had a nice talk. But something came up, and I had to rush out before I finished the orders."_

 _The Inquisitor continued to look down, and Blake followed her eyes._

 _Men and women bustled around the courtyard, of all shapes and sizes. Blake saw a bull Faunus who had horns that put Adam to shame practicing with a armored man._

" _What does the Inquisition do? When you're not giving out vague orders that get people kidnapped, that is."_

" _Whatever it takes to help, to keep the world going a bit long-"_

 _The Inquisitor sighed as a knock came from the door, eyes closed. Blake saw her mouth something._

 _She looked tired._

" _Come in."_

 _A man walked in, holding a tray._

" _Your Worship, we had heard you had returned and thought you might like some tea."_

" _Yes, thank you. Put it on the desk, and send my regards to the kitchens."_

" _Of course."_

 _The man did as she said, before withdrawing. The Inquisitor walked over to the table, pouring a cup of tea._

" _Do you want some?"_

 _For the first time, the Inquisitor met Blake's eye. Blake instinctively took a step back, for a brief second there seemed to be a glimmer of red in the silver irises, and her pupils were slightly slitted. Then she blinked, it was gone, and the Inquisitor was adding a cube of sugar to her tea, then a second, then a third._

" _Ok."_

 _The Inquisitor hadn't shown any signs of hostility, and did seem to be sorry about her capture._

 _Blake sat across from The Inquisitor, before tensing as a giant dog made itself known from one of the corners, Blake having written it off as a pile of furs._

 _Blake watched it lick The Inquisitor's right hand._

" _What kind of dog is that?"_

" _Drei? He's a Mabari, very smart, very loyal. They choose their partner and stay with them no matter what. We've been together for three years and a half years now, since he was born."_

 _It was huge, and Blake leaned back when it looked at her, head tilted to the side._

" _Why is he doing that?"_

" _He's curious, he hasn't met you before. Alright, Drei, leave her alone," The Inquisitor gave Drei a treat, and the Mabari walked back to his corner, chewing on it._

 _Blake spent a bit more time looking around the room. A scythe sat on one desk, apparently unused._

" _What's that about?"_

 _The Inquisitor looked over, "They're my old equipment from when I was more active. Those days are done now, so they're gathering dust."_

" _Couldn't you step down? You don't look all that much older than me."_

" _Even if I did," The Inquisitor lifted her left arm from the confines of her cloak for the first time, "I don't think I'm fit for fighting."_

 _Blake stared._

 _The Inquisitor didn't have a left hand. It ended just below her elbow._

" _It's not as bad as it looks."_

" _How did you lose it? If you don't mind me asking," Blake tacked on the last bit hurriedly._

 _The Inquisitor didn't show any sign of offense, smiling tiredly, "You know what I like about you, Blake? You ask questions. That's a very important thing in my line of work. The real question, is are you asking the right ones?"_

" _I think so, yes."_

" _Tell me why this is a good question, and I'll tell you."_

" _You clearly know who I am, and know me quite well. I don't know anything about you. I don't even know your name. Anything I can learn is good."_

 _The Inquisitor smiled again, a more honest one this time, "A friend took it off to keep me from dying. And my name is Ruby. Almost nobody calls me that anymore though, I'm Inquisitor now, or Herald, or Your Worship if they're feeling fancy. Even I have trouble thinking of myself as anything else at times."_

" _That, sounds very lonely."_

" _I am these people's champion, they look to me. I have to be infallible, to transcend being just a person, to be their Inquisitor."_

" _That still sounds lonely."_

 _Ruby smiled, "It is lonely at times, yes. But I do have some friends."_

 _Another knock, and Ruby pulled her left arm back into the confines of her cloak._

" _Come in."_

 _The door swung open, and the Bull Faunus Blake had seen walked in. Ruby moved her arm._

" _Boss, Wicked Grace?"_

 _Ruby seemed to think for a second, before turning to her, "Do you want to come? You can meet the rest of the Inner Circle."_

" _Uh… Sure?"_

" _Cool, grab Mercy when you grab Gambol Shroud, would you? Bull, help me with the gauntlet."_

 _Blake watched the conversation in confusion, and with more questions than answers. What was going on? Why was she here?_

 _-X Line Break X-_

" _I saw that Varric."_

 _Blake watched as the dwarf place the card he had attempted to swap back. Almost everyone had been caught cheating at some point, and Blake was starting to suspect it was part of the game._

 _The boy, Cole, stared at Blake from across the table._

" _What?"_

" _I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you when I grabbed you."_

" _Ok…"_

 _Blake looked around the table, before locking eyes with Ruby, who was drinking from a goblet of steaming red liquid._

" _You still haven't told me why I'm here."_

 _Ruby threw Lein onto the table, "You're smart. Guess."_

 _Blake looked around the table, off-key music coming from above them. Why was she here?_

" _You want me to join the Inquisition?"_

" _Right in one."_

" _Why?"_

" _You wouldn't remember, but we've met before. You made a good impression on me."_

" _That's it?"_

" _Pretty much."_

" _What would you want me to do?"_

" _Currently? Go to Beacon."_

" _What?"_

" _We have reason," one of the woman, Leliana spoke, "to believe that there is something about to happen at Vale, centered around Beacon."_

" _Why?"_

" _We know the signs for these things."_

" _But why me?"_

" _We can't do it, we're busy trying to deal with something else."_

" _What?"_

 _Ruby waved a hand, and a green rift followed it._

" _What's that?"_

" _A weakness in the Veil, we're trying to get back to where we came from."_

" _The Inquisition isn't from here?"_

" _Have you ever heard of Thedas?"_

" _No."_

" _Well, they would have never heard of Vale. We're very far away, and need to find a way back through the Veil."_

" _Then why help Vale?"_

 _Ruby smiled slightly, "I'm from Vale, just because I'm trying to save Thedas doesn't mean I will ignore my home."_

" _How did you get here?"_

" _We were thrown through the Veil by the same friend who took off my arm, Solas, to stop us from stopping him. We think we know where we are, but can't know for sure."_

" _Where does the Veil lead though?"_

 _Ruby smiled, before opening the rift larger._

 _Blake saw the world within shift. Armies waged war, Grimm fought against Men and Faunus._

" _The Fade, the realm of dreams and Spirits."_

" _You're mad."_

" _You would think so, yes."_

" _Why would I join you then?"_

" _Because I can prove it."_

" _How?"_

 _Ruby gesturing to it, "We can go see it."_

 _Ruby raised her right hand, "Shall we?"_

 _Blake thought about it._

" _Fine."_

 _And she took the hand._

 _The next thing she felt was her plummeting, familiar buildings rising around her._

" _Blake!"_

 _Blake turned as her mother ran past her._

" _Mom?"_

" _No," Ruby appeared next to her suddenly, "just a Spirit."_

" _What do you mean?"_

" _It's… hard to explain," Ruby raised her left arm, only to stop and stare at the empty sleeve like she was confused, before dropping it, "Solas could do it better then me, but he's well…"_

" _Not here?"_

" _Yeah. I can try, if you want."_

" _Please," Blake asked, eyes locking on the figure of Adam, before breaking her gaze to look around._

 _Menagerie. That's where they were. Home._

 _Blake blinked back tears as it dawned on her how much she missed her home._

" _Imagine a bowl," Ruby said, "when you pour water into it, the water takes the shape of the bowl. It's like that."_

" _...You were right, it doesn't make sense."_

 _Ruby gave a frustrated sigh, "Yeah. Ok, let me try again. Spirits are naturally malleable, so they change shape depending on who they're interacting with. A gay man would see a desire demon as a handsome man, while a straight one would see it as a beautiful woman. Cole says that they aren't really real until they find someone's thoughts to cling to make themselves real."_

" _Demon?"_

" _Spirits that have been corrupted by the dark side of human's emotions. Justice becomes Vengeance, Wisdom becomes Pride, Compassion becomes Fear. So on and so forth."_

" _Why..." Blake stared at the younger form of her, walking along and holding Adam's hand._

 _Blake took a step forward, then another, following the two. They had stopped, talking with Blake's parents. Ghira had one hand on Adam's shoulder, a paternal smile on his face as his other arm was wrapped around Kali._

 _She picked up her pace, reaching out and…_

 _A hand clamped down on her shoulder, stopping her._

 _Turning, Blake glared at Ruby, who was eyeing the two._

" _What?" Blake snarled out._

" _The most important thing to remember, is that nothing in the Fade is anything more than a reflection made by spirits."_

" _So?"_

" _So," Ruby stepped forward, drawing the sword on her back, flames licking up it, "This is a reflection of something you Desire."_

 _The minute Ruby said the word, the smiles on all four faces slid off. Their bodies seemed to melt, before taking the form of a naked, purple skinned woman (or was it a man?) with curved horns and claws._

" _I should have known you-"_

 _The creature didn't have time to finish her statement before Ruby stepped forward, running her through in one movement._

 _The demon froze, before fading from existence._

 _Ruby calmly sheathed the sword._

" _Remember, Blake. Nothing in the Fade is real, and everything in it, from Spirit to Demon wants something from you."_

-X Line Break X-

Blake rushed out of the room.

Stupid.

Pulling out her Scroll, she hit a button.

"Hello."

"I can't do this."

"Can't do what?"

"I can't be at Beacon anymore. I told you about my team right? Ruby, Weiss and Yang?"

"I know about them, yes."

Blake took note of the strange phrasing the Inquisitor used. Despite being extremely forthcoming about their origins, Blake still had the feeling she was hiding something from her. Blake had an idea what it was.

"They know I'm a Faunus, and used to be with the White Fang. I-"

"Blake, do you remember where the Inquisition house in Vale is?"

"Yes."

"Can you meet me there in an hour?"

"I don't know the phrase for the month, Leliana hasn't sent it yet."

"Give me a second," Blake heard the sound of parchment, "It's, uh, Benedictions 4:11."

"I don't know that line of the Chant, do you?"

Ruby wasn't, from what Blake had seen, particularly religious. She was intricately tied to the Andrastian faith, but Blake had never seen her near the Skyhold Chantry. The Chantry itself was one of the few formal nods Ruby gave to her status as Andraste's Herald, most of Skyhold's throne room being decorated with either heraldry exalting the Inquisition itself, or tokens from the Inquisition, and Ruby's, dragon hunts.

From what Blake could tell, dragons were similar to Grimm Wyverns, but actually left behind bones, which the Inquisition proceeded used for everything from decor to armor and weapon crafting. Even Ruby's ceremonial sword, Mercy, had a dragon wrapped around the crossguard.

...She was jealous of Ruby's bed though. It had been imported from the Free Marshes, wherever that was, and even made the beds at Beacon (and her bed in Skyhold) look small.

"'Blessed are the righteous, the lights in the shadow. In their blood the Maker's will is written.' I think."

"Ok, I'll see you then."

It took Blake an hour to reach the office building. Knocking on the door, Blake waited for the guard to crack it open.

"What?"

"Blessed are the righteous, the lights in the shadow-"

"-In their blood the Maker's will is written. Come in."

Blake stepped into the hall, looking around. Men and women in plain clothing were sitting in chairs, waiting for a door at the end of the hallway to open and let them in.

"Hey."

Blake and the guard span, finding the Inquisitor standing there.

"Herald!" The guard snapped to attention, "I didn't know you were in Vale!"

"I just arrived," Ruby waved her hand, and the guard let his posture slip.

"Blake, walk with me."

Blake rolled her eyes as Ruby pushed open the door she had just walked through, out into the night life.

Nobody payed them mind, the hidden Faunus and amputee.

"So, what's wrong?"

Blake looked around, following Ruby down the alley.

"Is it ok for you to be here? You're not combat ready. Dagna hasn't finished the-"

"Blake, I think I'm perfectly aware of my disability. Cullen'll probably ream me out when I get back, but you're more important than that."

No. She wasn't.

"Why?"

"Mh?"

"Why am I that important?"

Ruby stopped, looking back at her, "Because everyone is."

"Everyone?"

"Well, everyone in the Inquisition. I'll always go out of my way to help you, because I am the Inquisitor."

"Sometimes, I really don't understand you. You said we met before, but I don't remember that. I've only been working for you for a couple of months, and you drop everything to come talk to me."

"There's nothing wrong with wanting to help people, Blake. It's all I ever wanted to do. And, well," Ruby lifted her left arm, where the empty gauntlet sat, "talking is all I'm good for at the moment. I'm not exactly handy in combat any more."

Dust, that pun was Yang level.

Blake had noticed that most of the Inner Circle was _strange_. Ranging from the few times Ruby's mask cracked and it became clear how _miserable_ she was being stuck in Skyhold (in fact, Blake would put good money on Ruby having been looking for an excuse to sneak out before she called), to Thom's surprising immaturity.

But at the same time, they had invited her in with open arms. Whether it was talking about her more… risque literature with Leliana, The Iron Bull dragging her along to go drinking with the Chargers (and steadfastly ignoring her protests), Cole trying to help her sort out her conflicting feelings on her parents and Adam, or just Ruby and Varric's almost parental fussing over the group.

It truly felt like she had started to become part of the family.

Ruby walked into a small coffee shop, finding a table for the two of them.

After they ordered, Ruby looked around, sighing.

"You know, I think I'd love to have something like this. One day, when the world isn't constantly in need of rescue."

"Really? That's weird."

"What? How's it weird?"

"You… just don't seem the type, I mean, you're always complaining about being bored."

"It's just… simple, you know? No need to live a lie, to hide from my family."

"You have a family?"

"Yeah. You know my sister."

"I do?"

"Yang."

And, there was the confirmation.

"Yang's your sister?"

"Yeah."

"Does she know about… you know."

"No," Ruby deflated, "she can't. We have to leave eventually, so it's best if she didn't."

"And you're fine with that?"

"No. Of course not," Ruby said, "but we need to stop Solas, and that might be a one way trip back to Thedas. I don't want to hurt them like that," Ruby stopped, her hand gripping the gauntlet, "There's nothing worse than false hope, Blake."

"But you're hurting yourself."

"That's my job. I'm supposed to take all the pain and keep going."

Blake got the feeling, not for the first time, that Ruby secretly resented some of the expectations pressed upon her.

"The more I hear you talk about your job, the more depressing it sounds."

"Then I guess it's a good thing it's my job," Ruby smiled.

She didn't refute it, Blake noticed.

-X Line Break X-

Ruby watched Blake go, sighing. Blake still wasn't going back for now. Some things didn't change, apparently.

Flicking out her scroll, she placed it to her ear. After a brief wait, the call went through.

"Inquisitor."

"Krem. Did you get him?"

"Yes. It took us a while to track him down, and he put up one hell of a fight, but Cole, Harding, and Varric knocked him out. Lady Leliana and Bull are questioning him now."

 _You mean they're torturing him,_ The Inquisitor thought, _and you can't tell me because torture is frowned upon on Remnant, I would be angry, and it would look bad if it got out that I was aware of it happening._

Ruby hated politics, and she was even less fond torture. Both, unfortunately, were an integral part of her job, and the only part she could do until Dagna got something working.

Why couldn't helping people be _easier_?

"Did anyone get hurt?"

"Skinner and Dorian took some nasty hits, Stitches is patching them up now."

"How bad?"

"Dorian's already up and about, Skinner looks like she would be if it wouldn't aggravate her injuries."

Maker, how had things got so messed up? She signed on to help people, not become the leader of the Inquisition and a religious icon.

...Ok, so she might have already been on the way to becoming a religious symbol by that point, but that wasn't her fault!

Ruby hung up, leaning the back of her head against the wall to see the stars.

" _The Shepherd's lost, and his home is far. Keep to the stars, the dawn will come_ ," Ruby sang to herself quietly, the hymn flowing easily, " _The night is long, and the path is dark. Look to the sky, for one day soon the dawn will come."_

Ruby pushed off the wall, walking through the streets of Vale to where the team was.

As Ruby rounded the corner, Varric's voice came from the alley where their truck was parked.

"So, Petals, did you ask Blake out?"

Ruby stopped, staring at the dwarf, who was leaning against the trailer.

"Wuh?"

"Oh, come on," Varric grinned, "You get back home, and the first thing you do is have Ruffles make a room for her? Then you send the Kid to steal her away to your secret mountain fortress, show her your dark secret, and then ask her to work in a position that keeps her in constant contact with you? You're a walking cliché."

"I… uh… I…" Ruby blinked rapidly, trying to think of a response as a blush rose up her neck, "...Really?"

"No. You're just a talkative drunk. Started monologuing about how much you liked her as-"

"Ok, thank you, Varric," Ruby said loudly, her blush growing worse. Trust Varric to break right through her mask, "is everyone ready to go?"

"Go where?"

Ruby span, staring at the man across from her, and the blonde and Brunette behind him.

"Uh…"

"Miss Rose," Professor Ozpin said, "it really is you," his eyes flickered to the truck, "I must say, you've grown quite a bit."

"Uhhh-"

"And I certainly didn't expect to learn that _you_ to be the mysterious Inquisitor running around Vacuo."

"-hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-"

"Rubes?" Yang asked from behind Ozpin, "Is that you?"

"-hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-"

Ruby stared at the younger version of herself behind Ozpin. The _other_ reason she hadn't talked to her family.

"-hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-"

Little Ruby looked up at her, jaw hanging open.

"-hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…"

How was she going so long without stopping for breath?

"And, please, Miss Rose, where is Thedas?"

Crap. There must have been a bug on Blake. But where?

"I…" Ruby sighed, "I have a lot to explain, does anyone know a place that can fit," she quickly did the math, "sixteen people?"

"sixteen? I only count-"

Ruby pulled open the back, and the rest of the team (minus Skinner) spilled out onto the pavement.

To their credit, they got up with incredible speed. Dorian, who, Ruby noticed, was heavily bandaged, was only a second behind the rest. Drei padded over to her side, sitting and panting up at her.

"Who's that?"

Ruby's eyes rolled to look at the tied up form of Adam Taurus, noticing that _no_ , Bull and Leliana hadn't tortured him.

Thank The Maker for small miracles.

…

What did it say about their side that they did this kind of stuff? Or did that say more about the state of Thedas?

Who was she kidding, it said a lot about _both_.

"It's," Ruby hung her head and sighed, "It's a really long story."

Maybe she would be able to get out of Skyhold more often?

...She doubted it.


	2. Chapter 2

Ruby looked at… herself?

The taller, older version of herself that was, if Ozpin was right.

Same face, same eyes, same style of clothes...

Yeah, it was either her or she had a long lost older sister nobody had bothered to tell her about.

But where was Crescent Rose?

Ruby stepped around Ozpin, walking towards the older woman.

"Ruby!"

Ruby ignored the call of her sister, continuing forward.

The giant dog stood as she got close, before cocking his head and whined in confusion.

It looked between the Rubies, before his owner patted his head.

"It's alright, Drei."

Ruby blinked.

Drei? Like Zwei? That was another point towards this being real (or a really weird dream).

Drei lay down, and even like that, he came up to the older woman's knees.

Ruby took another step forward, ready to run if something happened. The group behind the other Ruby was watching her, but didn't make any movements for their assorted weapons.

Ruby ran her eyes across them, sword and shield, crossbow, daggers, greataxe, sword and shield again, explosives, staff greatsword, staff, greathammer, staff and some sort of empty hilt, bow, long sword, daggers.

By the time she was done, she was standing in front of the other Ruby, who was looking down at her.

Ruby looked up at the silver eyes, there seemed to be something… harder, in them. But there was also something like fire, controlled, inviting, but ready to burn out of control at any moment.

Ruby reached out, taking the gauntleted hand, and noticing that it seemed to be made out of bone, of all things, and tugging it gently down. Not trusting herself to speak at the moment.

Luckily, the other Ruby understood her meaning, kneeling down until they were even.

Ruby reached behind the other woman's head, running a hand along the collar of the cloak. It felt like hers, but there was only one way to be sure.

Ruby flicked her hand in a familiar motion, pulling out the little card in the pocket at the nape of the neck.

Ruby read the familiar scrawl, worn with age. Her eyes flicked up to meet her own gaze.

"You're me," she whispered in awe.

"Yeah," the older version of herself said softly, "yeah, I am."

Ruby couldn't help the smile that spread.

"Cool."

The other Ruby lifted her right hand up, rubbing the back of her head in a familiar way, laughing sheepishly. Her canines were sharp, almost like fangs.

"Who, me? Nah."

"Where's Crescent Rose?"

"It's a long story, I'll explain when we get to the restaurant."

"Nothing bad happened to her, right?" Worry leaked into her voice. The idea of her beloved scythe being damaged, even if it was another version of it, was too much to bear.

"Nothing bad happened, she's just back at Skyhold."

"Skyhold?"

"My castle."

"You have a castle!?" Ruby couldn't keep the excitement out of her voice.

She had a castle! Well, the other Ruby did, but if they were the same person, that technically meant it was her castle too!

"Yeah, I'll show it to you at some point," the other Ruby stood, looking at Ozpin, "So, do you have that place or...?"

"I know somewhere, I'll reserve the table in a minute. Tell me, what should we call you? With two Rubies, it would be difficult."

"Call me Inquisitor, or Herald. Everyone does anyway."

Ruby looked at Inquisitor in confusion, "Isn't Harold a boy's name?"

Inquisitor laughed, reaching over and ruffling her hair.

"Herald, not Harold, little Rose."

Ruby ducked out from the hand, sticking out her tongue out and trying to smooth out her hair.

"Can't we just split the name, I be Ruby and you be Rose?" Ruby felt a feeling of dread, "Or you could use our middle na-"

"We are _not_ using that," Inquisitor's eyes flashed red, her teeth bared in an animalistic move of anger, and something red seemed to pulse along her veins. Ruby took a step back. Drei stood, putting himself between the two Rubies, aimed, strangely, at his owner. His lips rolled back, and he lowered himself, ready to pounce.

"Ruby!"

The call came from the black haired woman in plate armor, who had drawn her sword, alongside the black bearded man and pointed them at the Inquisitor. She closed her eyes, breathing out from her nose.

The boy, around Ruby's age, muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Ruby to hear, "Rav-?"

"Cole. What am I thinking about?"

The boy, Cole, opened his mouth, before turning to the woman who had spoken.

"She spends too much time around you."

"Why?"

"Because you both seem convinced my hat would fit up there," Cole reached up, gripping the large brim of his hat in fear.

"Kid," the crossbow wielding man, Varric, sighed, and Ruby couldn't help but stare at his chest hair. It was just so… bushy, "Petals doesn't think that's possible, and she wouldn't actually do it if it was."

"What about Cassandra?"

"The Seeker might," he admitted easily.

"Hey!" Cassandra cried in indigestion.

Well, there was the Weiss of the group.

"Call me Rose if you want," Rose opened her eyes, which had reverted to silver, "but we're not using _that_ name. Why'd you ever think I would use it, you're me!"

"I don't know, maybe you decided you liked it in the… however many years older than me you are!"

"I'm nineteen. And, no. I haven't."

"Ok! Ok!"

Ruby felt something wet cover her hand, and looked down in shock. Drei was panting up at her, tongue lolling out as he panted at her.

Ruby reached down, scratching Drei behind his ear. The minute she did, Drei's back foot started to jump up and down, creating a heavy thud every time he did.

"Huh. Guess it isn't that surprising," Rose crouched down, moving her right arm to a spot on Drei's side and scratching it.

Drei processed to melt into a giant dogsaurus sized puddle.

"What isn't?"

"That he's treating you like me. We are the same person, and you're only a few months younger than I was when I got Drei. As far as he's concerned, we probably both register as his partner."

"Partner?"

"Yeah, Mabari imprint on their partner, and it becomes nearly impossible to separate them. There are stories of a Mabari's _owner_ getting mauled because they wouldn't let it go be with its _partner_.

"Rose, we're expected within an hour. Shall we?"

"Yeah-"

"I have also called Professor Goodwitch and had her grab Misses Belladonna and Schnee. I thought it best if all of Team RWBY was there."

Rose didn't miss a beat, "Come on, boy," at Rose's call, Drei popped up, "How's Skinner?"

A salvo of language came from the woman laying in the truck bed, leaving Ruby red behind the ears.

"Fine, I see," Rose snarked, "come on, everyone."

-X Line Break X-

"So," Rose drawled, playing with the steak knife, "I guess introductions are in order?"

"Yeah," Yang said, watching her younger/older sister, apparently, "That would be nice."

"Right, there's way too many people here, so please save all questions about titles until the end. I am Ruby Rose, Herald of Andraste, First-Thaw, Inquisitor, and half-a-dozen other titles I don't particularly care about but need to know for political reasons."

Cassandra leaned over, swatting her on the head, "Couldn't you handle this with a bit more grace? This is technically the first meeting between leaders of Thedas and Remnant."

"That," Rose came up with significantly more grace than she had any right to, "is Seeker Cassandra Pentaghast of Nevarra, advisor to the Inquisitor and one of my best friends."

Cassandra looked away, a dusting of red across her cheeks.

"He," Ruby pointed the knife at the dwarf, "is Viscount Varric Tethras of Kirkwall, another one of my best friends. Writer of such book series as Swords and Shields, Hard in Hightown, Veiled Empire, The Tale of the Champion and All This Shit Is Weird.'

Ruby gasped, looking at him before reaching for her backpack, flicking it open and pulling out a book.

"You wrote this?" She asked, pointing at The Tale of the Champion.

"I'll autograph it later, Peta-" Varric stopped, before looking between the two, "Looks like I'll have to come up with a new nickname…"

"Vivienne, Madame De Fer, of Orlais," Rose pointed at the darker skinned women wearing a hat shaped like a pair of horns, "First Enchanter of the Orlesian Circle of Magi, Knight-Enchanter, Court Enchanter of the Inquisition, anything I'm missing?"

"No, dear," Vivienne answered, reading the menu, "well you're in luck, they serve red meat here."

"Most places that aren't Orlesian noble parties do," Rose answered rolling her eyes.

"Why aren't you introducing yourselves?"

"We're letting Petals feel useful, she's been complaining about being bored for months. Something she should really stop, since _I'm_ supposed to be the Inquisition's complainer."

"Tell Dagna to hurry up then," Rose bit back, before turning to the waitress who had walked into the room, "I'll have the largest steak you have, as rare as possible, please," Drei barked from his spot next to Ruby, "Make that two, actually."

Once everyone had ordered (a rather lengthy affair, considering how many people there were) Rose continued.

"Thom Rainier, the Blackwall," She pointed at the man with a giant black beard, a dour look on his face, "he helps put the Inquisition troops through the paces."

Thom bowed his head in Goodwitch's direction, who was taking every word down.

"Magister Dorian Pavus, of the Tevinter Imperium," The bandaged man waved, a slightly punch drunk look on his face. It wasn't helped by the fact that half his handle-bar mustache was burned off and his white coat singed.

"Cole," Rose pointed to the boy immediately to her left, "he doesn't really have his own last name, so he tends to use mine or Varric's if the need arises, since, according to Blackwall 'we adopted him'."

Cole was staring at Yang, eyes bulging, unblinking, through straw like hair.

"You should be careful," he said softly, "Fire blazes bright, bringing both mortal and spirit before you, but one bad breeze, and it burns them, scaring them away. You help, and that's beautiful, but a wrong move and you will-"

"Cole!" five voices cut him off, Rose, Cassandra, Varric, the horned Faunus, and… Blake?

Cole stopped, look embarrassed.

What the hell was that?

"Next," Rose continued, "is Sister Leliana, Nightingale, advisor to the Inquisitor, Seneschal of Skyhold, spymaster of the Inquisition and another of my closest friends."

"A pleasure to meet you."

"Lace Harding, head of the Inquisition's scouts."

"Just Harding."

"The Iron Bull," the Faunus smiled, waving with a jovial look in his one eye, "Leader of the Bull's Chargers."

"Then we have the Chargers themselves, Krem," Ruby pointed at the armored man, "Dalish," The tall willowy woman with green tattoos on her face, "Rocky," the shorter man scars across his face, "Skinner," the bandaged women, "Stitches," the man with a shaven head, "and Grim," the blond man, "Not here are Ambassador Josephine Montilyet and Commander Cullen Rumford."

Yang looked at the group, before Rose said something that shocked her to the core.

"And finally," the knife stopped, pointing at the girl to Weiss's left, who seemed to be doing her best to sink under the table, "Blake Belladonna, Inquisition agent."

-X Line Break X-

Blake closed her eyes, waiting for the explosion.

It never came.

Cracking one eye open, she took in the students and teachers of Beacon. Yang and Ruby's jaws hung open, and Weiss looked taken aback. Goodwitch had closed her eyes, and Ozpin hadn't really reacted.

"And why," he asked the Inquisitor, "did you feel the need to send a spy to my school? It can't be that you don't trust me, or you would have warned her to go to ground the minute we met, and not connected her to you."

"I never said she was a spy."

Ozpin cocked an eyebrow, "Then why is she here?"

"Because something bad happens, and she was going to be here anyway."

Oh, yeah. Turns out her boss was a time shifted version of her team leader, and not just using her younger sister's name as an alias. _Apparently_ , that hadn't been deemed important for her to know, unlike Solas planning to tear the Veil from The Maker only knew where.

Wait, had she just sworn by The Maker? She had been spending too much time around the Inquisition.

"And does that 'bad thing' have something to do with your arm?"

Ruby cocked her head, "Huh?"

Rose glanced down at her gauntlet, before her eyes flickered up to meet Ozpin. From Blake's spot, she could see that the pupils had contracted in slits. Blake had yet to get an adequate explanation about that, and now that she knew the truth, it was really bugging her because she had never seen Ruby do so and never heard of someone _becoming_ a Faunus outside of stories. Of course, she had never heard of people able to read minds or cast magic outside of stories either.

"What gave it away?" Rose asked.

"Not only are you favoring your right hand, while Ruby favors her left, but you haven't so much as moved your left hand an inch since we met."

"Wait," Ruby was looking between the two, confusion clear, "What are you talking about?"

That would never show up on Rose's face, Blake noticed, even if she didn't know what was happening, she wouldn't let the other side have that sort of advantage. Blake had asked why, at one point. Rose had mentioned the Orlesian "Grand Game", alongside a tirade about how much she hated it.

Apparently, Rose _hated_ Orlais and almost everything to do with it.

It was probably good for Ruby to get out, even if she was giving Cullen an ulcer. The Inquisitor had been getting increasingly erratic from what Leliana had said last they spoke.

She lifted her right arm, undoing the straps that kept the pauldron on her shoulder. Once that was done, she pulled her left arm out.

Despite knowing what was coming, Blake flinched slightly at the sight of the missing hand. Ruby wore her gauntlet constantly, to the point Blake could count on one hand the amount of times she had seen her without it.

The rest of her team's reaction was much worse.

A startled curse slipped from Yang's lips, and Weiss gasped, bringing one hand up to cover her mouth.

Ruby, however, didn't say anything, simply staring at the stump and desperately mouthing something. Her right hand coming up to clutch her left as her eyes shone with something Blake wasn't used to seeing. Fear.

"I, I lose my arm?" Ruby's voice cracked at the end, and she started to shake slightly.

"It's not-" Rose stopped her default brush off, her face softening, the inner fire of her eyes having died to a dull burn.

Rose stood, walking around the large table and kneeling before Ruby. Like this, it really did look like they were sisters.

Rose reached out, talking Ruby's hand and placing it on the stump.

Ruby wrapped her hand around it, looking scared.

"Listen, I understand you're scared, but this," Rose shook the stump, "isn't going to happen to you. It's part of my life, but it won't be part of yours if I can help. Besides," Rose grinned, "once Dagna gets done deciphering Fiona's notes, you won't even know I was ever missing a hand to begin with!"

"How?"

"Uh, Vivienne, do you mind helping me out?"

"Not at all, dear," Vivienne raised a hand, a ball of static forming above it.

Rose curled her hand into a claw, and blood red flames appeared along her arm, concentrating into talons at her fingertips. Ruby's breath hitched, but she wasn't staring at Rose's right hand.

Instead, her eyes were locked onto Rose's face.

"What are you?"

"Something to be feared," Rose admitted, her voice rougher, "but that isn't a bad thing. If people fear me, they won't fight me, attack my men, or attack those I protect for risk of provoking me. People live, because I made this choice. I chose to be Infused, to be Broken, so that others do not."

"It feels like you're staring right through me," Ruby muttered with awe, and Blake immediately knew what she was seeing.

Piercing red eyes with slitted pupils, taking in everything you are, judging you by some unknown metric, and finding you lacking of what they were searching for.

"'The act of becoming is a defiance of all expectation. I am above. I see where the blade must go. I see through you,'" Rose said, obviously quoting something.

"How?"

"Magic, like the type you hear about in stories," Rose said, "it can do many things, but our Healer kind of…" She mumbled out the last bit, turning her head away from Ruby, allowing Blake to see her blush.

It was kind of cute.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"I said, he blew himself up. And the only set of notes we have is in a cipher, so now Dagna needs to translate them before we can have someone learn how. Once that happens, I should be able to be healed, or failing that, get a prosthetic made."

"Rose," Ozpin called out, "can we get back to the matter at hand?"

The flames along Rose's hand disappeared, and she stood turning to Ozpin with a serious look on her face.

"What do you want to know?"

"Everything."

-X Line Break X-

Weiss looked at Blake, feeling quite uncomfortable.

But why? Because Blake was a Faunus? Because Blake had been a member of the White Fang?

Or was it because Weiss didn't know how to take back what she had said during their argument?

How was she supposed to know Blake was a Faunus! It wasn't like she had given any sign of it.

...Actually, now that she thought about it, the name Belladonna _did_ seem familiar. Where had she heard it? Her father, she thought, but why…?

So she was on a team with a former terrorist Faunus who was also working for the Inquisition. But in what order? Did the Inquisitor know that Blake had been in the White Fang?

Weiss had heard of the Inquisition, they had popped up on the border of Vacuo and Vale a couple of months before the school year had started. Despite attempts from both kingdoms to find where they had come from, there was nothing to show for it. Their members would disappear into the Alba Mountains, and any attempts to track them died there. One of their members had come to Atlas to set up a trade agreement with her father a couple months back.

It had ended with fifty Faunus workers disappearing, alongside several valuable paintings and statues. Her father hadn't been that angry in a long time.

"You said something bad was going to happen, how bad?" Ozpin asked, drawing Weiss out of her thoughts.

"The CCT was destroyed, Pyrrha Nikos was dead, Penny Polendina was dead, you were presumed dead, trust in the Atlasian military was severely damaged, Yang lost an arm, Blake ran away, Weiss was dragged back to Atlas, Grimm were starting to overrun Vale, and at least some of the White Fang had gone so far off the deep end that killing them would probably be for the best," Rose said, apparently unfazed by the future she was laying out.

"This doesn't seem to affect you," Ozpin accused her.

"When it first happened, it was the worst day of my life, now, it's lucky it makes the top ten. What happened there was a tragedy, but if I gave up every time something bad happened, I'd have thrown myself off a cliff a long time ago," Rose said, "and besides, you have something we didn't."

"What?"

"Me. I've burned the names of the ones behind the attack into my brain. The exact exact events leading up to it. What happened to _my_ Vale doesn't matter, because it won't happen here. This," Rose gestured around with the knife, "is my chance to make up for that. Cinder Fall, Mercury Black, Emerald Sustrai, Roman Torchwick, Adam Taurus," Blake gave a small gasp, but Rose didn't seem to notice, picking up steam as her eyes turned red and a slightly wild look came into them, "those are the names of the men and women you want, Ozpin. Three of them will be at Beacon soon, pretending to be students from Mistral. Watch, and when the moment comes, don't hesitate to leap! Execute them on the spot, or have us do it if you don't have the guts, but don't let them-"

"RUBY!" Cassandra roared, stopping the tirade in it's tracks.

Rose stopped, before spinning and walking out of the room, Drei stood from his place next to Ruby, following on her heels.

After a brief, yet entirely silent conversation, Varric stood, following after her.

"My apologies," Cassandra bowed her head, "Ruby is normally in much better control than that. But the fall of Beacon has always been a sore spot for her despite what she said, and she isn't used to being able to show it anymore. I suppose she got a bit too heated. I can assure you that it won't happen again."

Nobody said anything, an uncomfortable silence settling across the room. Team RWBY shifted uncomfortably, while Ozpin seemed to look several times his age.

"Do you know, was it as bad as she said?"

"Ruby lost two friends before her eyes within hours of each other, watched her home be destroyed, played a vital role in the death of at least one person, and watched her friends be torn apart. Weather it was as bad as she says doesn't matter, it is one of the events that made her the woman she is today."

"Walking through the streets again, Beowolves howling in the distance, people screaming. I turn the corner, looking at the landing pad. Blake's there, one hand reached out to grab Yang's remaining hand, the other clutching the bloody hole in her stomach. Out of the shadows steps the red haired man, a face to finally put to the name. He's scarier this way, somehow. Sun moves to stop him, decapitated. Sage moves to stop him, run through. Neptune moves to stop him, throat slashed open, spilling his life-blood out. Scarlett moves to stop him, the blade was forced through his eye. Adam steps forward, and Blake pushes herself back, fear radiating from her form. Adam stops, gutting Yang in one swift move. I start to move, Aura and Blood and Fire gathers into dragon's claws. Blake raises her arms in a futile effort to ward off the blade that takes her head from her shoulders. Adam doesn't live to regret it, I fall onto him with a roar, tear into him, consume him, until nothing remains but a bloody pile of meat," Cole's voice cut through the room, "I spin looking to the sky, searching, praying. There, against the broken moon, the blighted citadel. It's a dream, it's the Fade, just Spirits and Demons who don't know what they're doing, that they're hurting me, none of this is real."

If anything, the atmosphere in the room grew even heavier at that. Weiss wasn't sure what Cole meant when he said 'blighted citadel' but it was clear that whatever it was, it featured in Rose's dreams often enough that she had the presence of mind to look for it as evidence of the fact that she was dreaming.

"And she hopes to stop it." It was Blake who said that.

"More than anything. I can not stress enough how much this means to her," Cassandra sighed, "Ruby called me one of her best friends, and she is one of mine. We've known each other since the first day of the Inquisition. I've watched her grow from a little girl trapped in a world she didn't understand who constantly looked to me or Leliana for for cues, to a confident leader. It would take me days to explain what we have been through, and Varric could do it better. Not once in all that time, did I seen Ruby cry. I'm not sure if she did it away from us, or didn't at all. When she found when we were, that we had a chance to _stop_ it from happening, she cried. Then, she locked herself in her room, when she came out, she had plans drawn up for what we would do to make sure it didn't happen. She didn't want any of you involved, not even you, Blake."

"Then why did she-?"

"I insisted," Cole said, his quiet voice carrying, "It's still hard to look at Ruby, the Anchor tied her to the Fade in a way that can never be really undone, but I didn't need powers to see that she missed you, and that you and Weiss disappearing before she woke up hurt her. I don't like her being hurt."

"Oh. Sorry," Blake mumbled.

"Why are you sorry? _You_ didn't do anything."

"What _are_ you?" Weiss finally caved, asking the burning question.

"At one point, I was a Spirit, then a Demon, then something in-between, now, I'm a human or close to it."

That… was vague.

Blake pushed herself out of her chair, leaving the room.

-X Line Break X-

"Petals," Varric called softly, "you're there, right?"

Ruby didn't answer, leaving the Dwarf worried, before Drei barked.

Varric walked into the alley, where Ruby was shaking.

Not for the first time, Varric was reminded of another girl with short black hair and all too many expectations forced onto them at a young age. Add a swipe of blood across the nose, turn her eyes blue, and give her a relentlessly sarcastic attitude and she would be a clone of a young Marian Hawke.

The Champion and Inquisitor had become fast friends when Varric introduced them, though that didn't surprise him. After Marian somehow keeping Anders and Fenris from murdering each other for seven years, Varric was half convinced she could talk a Darkspawn into laying down its arms and joining the Chantry, and Ruby had been in the midst of successfully managing to keep the powderkeg the Inquisition had been at the time from blowing up through sheer force of personality (and a lot of acting lessons from Leliana and Josephine). Add in the fact that it was probably refreshing for both of them to meet someone else that the world seemed to have a personal grudge against, and the two had bonded rather quickly. From what Varric had heard, they had exchanged letters up until Weisshaupt had gone silent.

Maker, he missed her. Even though they had never spoken about that one time, after the rebellion… hadn't had time to really, with her having to go to ground. Maybe when they got back to Thedas. It would be good to move on from Bianca.

He supposed there was something about these types of stories he liked. The type he would write about. The Ferelden refugee, searching for every opportunity to claw themselves out of Lowtown, fighting through the grief of losing her sister and her uncle's debts. The lost girl, thrust into the cutthroat world of Thedas politics and desperately learning to not only survive there, but to thrive. It was easy to be brave when you had learned from a fencing master, it was easy to control the court's favor when you grew up watching your parents do the same. Ruby, Marian, they hadn't had that, they had been just a pair of relatively normal people who refused to give up, no matter how many times the world pushed them down and kicked them in the ribs. Somehow, they became larger than life in doing so.

In the end that was the problem, they weren't. Not Marian, and certainly not Ruby.

Varric grabbed Drei by the collar, dragging him to the end of the alley.

Varric had never met two Reavers whose abilities were exactly the same, but they almost all followed a few uniform rules. Draconic motifs, fire, pain.

Ruby had gotten lucky. Maybe because of her Aura, maybe she had some Faunus blood a few generations back and the ritual had latched onto that, maybe the Anchor had done something, maybe because she was a mage and accidentally created some new version of Hedge Magic, maybe Andraste and the Maker actually did like her. Every possibility had been offered, they weren't any closer to an answer. That didn't change the fact that Ruby had managed to avoid the ritualistic self harm most Reavers went through. Instead…

Ruby threw a thankful look over her shoulder, before throwing aside her cloak, and, for lack of a better word, exploding.

Her Aura coated her body, the bloody flames briefly forming into the outline of a dragon before lashing out in a wave of pure force. A rat that got caught in it writhed on the ground as Ruby's Aura drained its.

Ruby roared, her Aura scarring the ground as she let her grip go completely. She fell to the ground, driving her fist into it until it cratered. Blood leaked down her hand, even as the wounds healed, her Aura repairing the damage.

In the end, the Aura retracted into Ruby, and she was left gasping.

"Sorry… Sorry you had to… see that…"

"What? You finally venting? Petals, you should probably do that more often."

"And... risk Orlais learning? They're already looking... for a reason to end... end us, I can't give the-"

"Orlais isn't here."

Ruby froze, like that hadn't dawned on her.

Of course it hadn't. She had spent the last three years looking over her shoulder, watching every word, waiting for the next assassination attempt to come. Compared to that, coming back to Remnant must have left her confused. Politics wasn't quite as cutthroat, one wrong comment didn't see a slew of knives aimed at your back.

Varric was enjoying it, nice big cities, idiots to scam, no Merchant's Guild riding his back. Hell, if Hawke wasn't still in Thedas, he'd probably stay. Maybe he could take her back here with them, when Solas wasn't trying to cause _another_ world ending calamity.

There was Grimm to hunt when they got bored, heating was cheap, so was food. Yeah, he could imagine settling down here.

"It doesn't matter, we're going back to Thedas, I can't risk slipping up there because-"

"Petals," Varric cut her off, "you need to relax. You're turning into a miniature version of Ruffles and Curly."

"I'm not-"

"When was the last time you did anything that wasn't at least tangentially related to the Inquisition?"

"I went to the spa with Vivienne-"

"That was six months ago, and from what she said, you spent the entire time stressing. Peta- Ruby," Varric ditched the nicknames for a moment, "You're going to run yourself into the ground. Those rumors about you being divine are just that, you're not-"

"What rumors?"

Trust her to catch _that_ , instead of the point he was trying to make.

"Some people in Kirkwall think you're Andraste and The Maker's daughter."

"That's completely insane, I have a father, he's not some god who might not even exist!"

"Look at it from their point of view, you came out of a rift after hundreds of loyal worshipers died, nobody could find where you were from, you started to seal the Breach-"

"I was only trying to help-"

"-You fought off something that looked like an Archdemon and one of the original Darkspawn-"

"-I told Leliana to make sure that didn't get out!"

"-You survived dropping a mountain on it, broke an army of Grey Wardens and Demons-"

"I just led the assault, Cullen was in charge of the actual planning-"

"-entered the Fade and forced back an ancient demon-"

"That was because of you and Alistair-"

"-saved the queen of Orlais, supported an extremely popular Divine, and had Inquisition agents stop the war brewing between Tevinter and Nevarra and break Choir Boy's siege on Kirkwall. If you had really wanted too, you probably could have kept the Inquisition going without worrying about Ferelden and Orlais by moving to the Free Marches."

"But, I was just trying to help people!"

"I know that Petals, and I think that's the problem."

"How is helping people a problem?"

Varric sighed, this wasn't where he had expected this conversation to go, but knew Ruby wouldn't let them get back on topic until then. Varric ignored the person walking from Ruby's end of the alley.

"Because you don't want a reward for it. To you, helping people is just something that comes naturally. They're used to people wanting something, especially in Orlais. Someone who's just as comfortable helping a farmer find their lost Druffalo as fighting-"

Ruby staggered, then, dropping to one knee, and Varric grunted as something struck his shoulder. Then two bangs carried, and Varric felt the burning feeling.

"What in Andraste's name?"

"Did you really think," Adam Taurus growled, dropping Blush and raising Wilt over his head with both hands as he stepped behind Ruby, "that I wasn't going to get out if you left me alone?"

"You're about to make the worst mistake of your life," Ruby's voice had dropped an octave, her eyes a bright red.

Adam didn't respond, swinging Wilt for her neck.

There was the sound of choking, followed by a hiss of flames, and the body hit the floor.

-X Line Break X-

Blake walked out of the room, mind reeling.

Adam. Adam helped destroy Ruby- Rose- The Inquisitor- whatever's version of Vale? Impossible.

But, was it? He had already been sinking to new lows when she left, and there had to be some reason Ruby had nightmares of him killing Yang and her often enough that knowing what he looked like "was scarier."

In hindsight, The Inquisitor being an older version of Ruby made a lot of sense. When, exactly, they had met, why she had been so willing to invite her to the Inner Circle, and why the other members seemed to know things about her she had never said. She had just written it off as Cole being incapable of keeping a secret, as usual. Why she had always been given a bit more supplies than she probably needed on the odd jobs they had sent her on before Beacon, and Ruby always seemed worried that she wouldn't come back.

They also had several behavioral traits in common. Both tended to get distracted easily, both tended to take metaphors at face value (though Blake suspected that, at least in Rose's case, it was a deliberate thing), and both had a rather large sweet tooth.

There were differences, Rose was less vocal about supporting Faunus rights, but also routinely had supplies sent to Faunus settlements in Vacuo, had Leliana hire on Faunus as spies, and had Cullen send guards to help deal with bandit attacks. Ruby was _very_ clear on her dislike for the taste of alcohol, but Rose had both a tavern named after her and a wine cellar (neither of which Blake had admittedly ever seen her actually _use_ for their intended purpose).

Blake stopped at the front desk, asking if they had seen which way Ruby, Drei and Varric had gone.

After being pointed into the streets, Blake slipped out into the night.

Why had she… or, well, the other her (Maker, this was confusing) run off?

...She had just sworn by The Maker again, hadn't she? Dammit.

Who was she kidding, she knew exactly why she would have run. She had left the White Fang to get away from the path Adam was leading them, to get away from _him_.

A pair of woman rushed by as an inhuman roar echoed across the city, and Blake reached for Gambol Shroud just to be safe.

Where would she go, if she ran away from Beacon? To get away from Vale?

Probably Skyhold. The fortress was nigh impossible to find if Ruby didn't want you too, something about the Fade having bleed into the walls and mountain, and the Inquisition would probably be more than willing to put up with her until Adam gave up. They did it with Vivienne.

But that didn't answer her question, the other Blake, _Rose's_ Blake, didn't have Skyhold. So where would she have gone?

Not Atlas, despite Blake being able to easily pass as a human, and that Adam would _never_ go there, Blake didn't think she would be able to sit by as the Faunus there suffered. Vacuo, maybe, even before she had personally gone there on a supply run with Bull and Krem, she had known it to be a haven for Faunus, second only to Menagerie. They had gotten a few odd looks, but to be fair, it wasn't everyday you saw a seven foot tall man with grey skin and giant horns.

Maybe Minstal? But that's where the White Fang based, and there was no way she would go back to Menagerie.

...Right?

Blake stopped, before slinking into the shadows.

Shit. Shit. Shit shit shit SHIT!

Adam walked past her, apparently missing her completely as his hand gripped Blush so tightly it groaned, dragging one of his legs behind him.

What were the chances?

Blake's eyes flickered to opposite end of the street, wondering if she could sneak away? Adam looked like he was out for blood. She could pretend this never happened, not worry about-

 _Ruby's face came to mind, tight as she walked onto the wooden platform, Cullen behind her with Mercy in its sheath._

 _Blake looked up from the crowd, Krem's hand on her shoulder._

" _Let the blade pass through the flesh,  
Let my blood touch the ground,  
Let my cries touch their hearts. Let mine be the last sacrifice," The Chantry mother recited, standing before the kneeling man._

 _Red spikes grew from his body, and he was shaking like a leaf. He coughed suddenly, blood spraying from his mouth._

" _What's going on?"_

 _Krem didn't answer, eyes locked onto the platform._

 _Blake frowned, she had never seen everyone so serious._

" _Raleigh Samson," Ruby's voice rang out, the familiar confidence she put on around the Inquisition ringing true, "You know why we are here?"_

 _Raleigh laughed slightly, before wincing, one of the red spikes quivered, before growing another inch. They were crystals, Blake realized._

" _Can… can we get this over with?"_

 _Ruby's eyes softened, and she held out her hand. Cullen stepped forward, allowing Ruby to grip Mercy's hilt._

" _For what it's worth? I couldn't have wished for a better enemy, Samson. I wish we could have found you before Corypheus. You were a good soldier."_

" _The feeling is mutual, girl," Samson smiled, bloodshot eyes coming up to meet Ruby's. Then he lowered his head._

 _Ruby nodded at the Chantry Mother, and she recited another verse._

" _Here lies the abyss, the well of all souls.  
From these emerald waters doth life begin anew.  
Come to me, child, and I shall embrace you.  
In my arms lies Eternity."_

 _Samson's eyes seemed to widen, his head snapping up to look at Ruby._

" _Girl…" his voice cracked._

 _The Chanter flicked the tome in her hand to a different page, reading the words. Krem's hand tightened on her shoulder, and he leaned in, "Don't look away, he deserves that much."_

 _What? Then it dawned on Blake._ _ **No**_ _._

" _I cannot see the path.  
Perhaps there is only abyss.  
Trembling, I step forward,  
In darkness enveloped._

 _Though all before me is shadow,  
Yet shall the Maker be my guide.  
I shall not be left to wander the drifting roads of the Beyond.  
For there is no darkness in the Maker's Light  
And nothing that He has wrought shall be lost._

 _I am not alone. Even  
As I stumble on the path  
With my eyes closed, yet I see  
The Light is here._

 _Draw your last breath, my friends.  
Cross the Veil and the Fade and all the stars in the sky.  
Rest at the Maker's right hand,  
And be Forgiven."_

 _Samson lowering his head again, a choked laughter rising, and Blake realized he was crying._

 _As the verse ended, Ruby drew Mercy from its sheath, the rune of fire igniting the blade._

 _Samson's sobbing laughs grew worse as Ruby raised the blade._

 _The blade came down, cutting through bone and tendons and muscle in one move, the flames searing the wound shut. Blake flinched, but didn't look away, Krem's hand on her shoulder._

" _Why?"_

" _Samson only ever got this bad because Ruby put off his execution so he could work for the Inquisition. This was her fixing her mistake. Nobody will ever remember what evils Raleigh Samson did, they will remember this, him being forgiven in Andraste's name by her Herald."_

Blake snapped out of it, realizing she had started to follow Adam as she thought.

Adam turned into an alley, firing Blush twice. Blake rushed ahead, staring as he walked behind Ruby, raising Wilt.

"You're about to make the worst mistake of your life."

The blade started to drop, and Blake rushed forward, training with Leliana coming up as she wrapped her arm around his throat and pulled back.

The blade missed Ruby's neck by an inch, and she turned, flames forming around her hand as the fist shattered Adam's mask.

Adam crashed down on top of Blake, she lay there winded for a second, before Adam was pulled off of her and thrown against the wall. Drei bounded over from his hiding place, teeth an inch from Adam's throat.

Ruby grabbed her hand, helping her up.

Looking over, Blake watched Varric drink something from a vial, before pouring another down Adam's throat, and pulling out some rope to tie him up.

"Thanks," Ruby coughed, "but you really didn't need to do that."

Ruby grabbed Adam by the scruff of his neck, dragging him toward a truck in the distance.

"Come on, let's drop this idiot off and get back in there, I still need to finish talking to Ozpin."

-X Line Break X-

Ruby looked up from where she was examining Rose's gauntlet as said Inquisitor, Varric, Drei, and Blake walked in, looking tired.

Was that… blood?

Rose's hand had blood splattered across it, as did Varric's coat.

Rose walked up to her, holding out her hand. Huh? Oh! Ruby handed over the gauntlet, looking up at Rose.

"What kind of bone is that?"

"Let me guess," Blake said, walking to her spot, "Dragon?"

"Do we use anything else?"

"Exactly."

"What can I say," Rose shrugged, letting Cassandra help her put the gauntlet back on, "I have a kinship with the Dragon we got this bone from. It was the first one I killed, it was also the biggest."

"Dragon?"

"They're giant winged beasts! Kind of like Wyvern Grimm, which are completely different than Thedas's Wyverns. They're magnificent, once every hundred years, they leave their caves and rampage, hunting livestock. That's when we come in!"

"You seem… oddly passionate about this," Ozpin said, watching Rose.

Rose let out a giddy laugh, "It's my favorite part of my job. There's no guilt, no political motives, nothing but searing flames, a storm of blades and the knowledge that I did something to _help_. If you gave me the choice between going to one Orlesian party or fighting six High Dragons, I'd gladly take them all on at once!"

Ruby couldn't help but squirm in her seat, she liked a good fight, yeah, but she wasn't _bloodthirsty_ like Rose seemed to be.

What had happened to cause her to change? Was leading the Inquisition that hard?

"Still don't like parties?" Yang asked.

Hey!

Oh Dust, she was turning into Weiss.

"I can put up with them, I'd just rather die because my armor, Aura, and weapons failed me, instead of someone poisoning my wineglass. Again."

"Why would someone want to poison you?"

"Because it's Orlais, their nobility is made up of assholes who don't have anything better to do then kill each other because someone was... I don't know, wearing flat shoes and owned a breed of dog they didn't like."

Ruby started to giggle.

"Still sore about that particular attempt, Inquisitor?" Leliana asked.

Ruby stopped giggling. Someone had tried to kill Rose, kill _her_ , for that?

"Yes! It's petty. My support for the College of Mages, I can understand, or me backing Gisele, but _shoes_? Really?"

"Rose," Ozpin drew attention back to them, "where is Thedas?"

"Hell if I know. We were thrown here by an ungodly powerful Elven Mage."

"Then, what are the Inquisition's intentions for Remnant?"

"Stopping the destruction of Vale, finding a way back to Thedas, stopping Solas, and then some of us might retire here. Why?"

"Because, currently it looks like you're trying to create a new Kingdom."

"No…?"

"Then why are you sending armed forces to villages near the Alba Mountains?"

"To help? Huntsmen can't be everywhere, and we have enough men garrisoned at Skyhold. We haven't sent out our best men for much."

"Still, it would be for the best if you met with the Councils now, rather than later."

"Uh… Can we at least wait to get Josephine here?"

"How long would that take?"

"Two… Three days? Less if you're willing to let us borrow a Bullhead. It gives us an excuse to show a delegation Skyhold while we're at it."

"We can do that."

"Can we also get the paintings you stole from my home back while we're there?" Weiss asked.

"No."

"Why not!?"

"Because we sold them on the black market and used to processes to pay for supplies for several Faunus settlements," Rose admitted without shame.

"Snrk."

Everyone looked over at where Blake was covering her mouth, trying to hide her laughter.

"Ruby?"

"Yeah, Blake?"

"I love you."

"Love you too."

Why did she get the feeling they meant two different things when they said that?


	3. Chapter 3

"And if you look to the left," Rose yelled over the engine of the Bullhead, "You can see Skyhold just coming into view!"

Blake glanced out the window, watching the worn stone of the Inquisition's headquarters come into view. Like Rose said, it was old, it was cold, it was home.

"That's… actually pretty impressive," Yang said, looking at it.

Ruby was vibrating in her seat, looking like she wanted to jump out the ship and rush on over.

Despite them being several thousand feet in the air.

Blake was going to have to ask Rose how she managed to mellow out, and force Ruby to learn how to.

"Tell me," Oobleck, who had been sent with them, yelled back, "Where does the name Skyhold come from? Did you name it or…?"

"Came with it! According to Solas, it comes from ancient Elvish, 'Tarasyl'an Te'las', The Place Where The Sky Was Held Back!"

"How old would that make it?"

"The castle itself is at least Divine Age, so nine hundred years, give or take fifty years! We had to renovate it a lot, obviously, I'm looking forward to getting this over with, then we're going to add Dust heaters to the place, even if it kills me!"

Maker, that sounded _divine_.

Did she just-? You know what? She didn't care anymore.

"How did you find it?"

"Solas showed us. After we lost Haven, we needed a new base that was easy to defend."

"Haven?"

"The original base of the Inquisition, the town was overrun by Red Templars and a dragon under Corypheus. I ended up burying it under a mountain of snow to buy everyone time to escape."

"Corypheus?"

"Yeah, one of the Magisters responsible for the Second Sin. We spent the first two years fighting him."

Blake couldn't stop the hiss of air she drew. Corypheus was behind the Second Sin? And Ruby had fought him?

"The Second Sin? Magister?"

"The Magisters are the ruling mages of the Tevinter Imperium. The Second Sin… well, it's hard to explain without getting into Chantric teachings."

"Please, try. We know nothing about your culture, and if we're supposed to be able to work together, we need to understand each other."

Rose cursed under her breath.

"Why didn't I bring Cassandra or Leliana with me? Alright, I'll try to stick to the facts. In the Fade, there is a city on an island, it is an equal distance from everywhere. Before -395 Ancient it was golden, _after_ then, it turned black. Seven Magister Sidereals performed a ritual, slaughtering hundreds of slaves to tear open a hole in the Fade to enter the Golden City and meet their gods. This is where things get muddy. According to the Chantry, the hubris of the seven blackened the City and the Maker cast them out, turning them into the first Darkspawn, corrupting Dumat, the Old God of Silence into an Archdemon starting the First Blight, and turning his back on humanity for the second time. Corypheus, however, says that the City was black when they got there."

Oobleck was writing on his note pad, desperately taking down every word.

"You said First Blight, that implies there's more than one?"

"Five so far, the last one was a little over twelve years ago. Or from when we left."

"And what happens during one?"

"The Darkspawn corrupt one of the remaining Old Gods, then they form a horde and come up from the Deep Roads, slaughtering everything in their path and blighting the land until someone kills the Archdemon. Story goes that there are sections of the Anderfels that got hit so hard through their three Blights that bodies don't even decay there. Nothing is alive there _to_ cause decay.

The Bullhead shook as they landed, cutting off the tide of questions, and the door opening to allow them out.

Swords and bows greeted them.

The Inquisition forces had moved like clockwork, surrounding the Bullhead in seconds, Cullen at their head. Blake saw everyone in the Bullhead reach for their weapons, and she opened her mouth to stop them.

"STAND DOWN!"

Blake flinched back as Rose roared the order, leaping from the Bullhead.

The Inquisition soldiers looked at each other, like they weren't sure in they should.

"Anyone who doesn't drop their weapon right now will have to go eleven rounds with me in the training ring."

There was the sound of a hundred swords falling to the ground.

Nice to see that even after six months, Rose was still capable of scaring the troops into submission.

Cullen, however, sheathed his sword, walking forward to meet them.

"Inquisitor, what happened?"

"We were discovered. I need to discuss it with you and Josephine. Krem, Blake, Cole, do you mind showing everyone around?"

"Not at all," Krem said, turning to take Ruby's hand and helping her down. There was a light shrinking of red on the fifteen year old's face.

"Good," Rose nodded, "Cullen, walk with me."

Then she turned on her heel, pushing through the guards and up to the stairs leading to the Throne Room.

When she was halfway up them, she stopped.

"Oh, and Little Rose? Feel free to try out the throne."

The squeal of joy sent the birds in the rookery off.

-X LINE BREAK X-

Krem leaned against the stable wall as Team RWBY fawned over the horses. Oobleck had disappeared to talk with Dagna shortly after they arrived, the Dwarf having been directed their way by the Lady Inquisitor.

The horses (and other assorted animals the Lady Inquisitor had gathered as mounts over the years) were basking in the attention, having been confined to Skyhold for fear of Grimm attacks.

More particularly, they were in the paddock the Lady Inquisitor had given Dennet and his family permission to build in the valley below Skyhold.

Speaking of the Horsemaster, he exited the stable, walking next to Krem.

"So, Tevinter," Dennet's eyes followed where Ruby was desperately clinging to the reins of the pure white horse. An Imperial Warmblood, Krem noticed, recognizing the mount preferred by Magisters of his nation of birth, "That's really a younger version of Inquisition, isn't it?"

"Seems that way," Krem answered easily, having grown used to Dennet's strange way of addressing people in the three years they had both worked for the Inquisition.

If Krem was honest, he was glad the Lady Inquisitor had decided to keep them on a permanent payroll. Not only did it offer him, Bull, Skinner, and Dalish the ability to dodge the various organizations out for their heads, but it gave them a nice place to rest those heads.

"I remember when Inquisition was like that."

Krem didn't respond, watching Yang laugh as her horse tried to buck her off.

"I don't."

Krem jumped slightly as Cole slid out of the shadows. He would find out how the bloody blond bastard did that, one day.

"Where have you been?"

Cole ducked his head, mumbling something out. As he did so, Krem caught sight of the red mark on his neck.

Fighting down the shit eating grin that was rising, Krem laughed slightly, "Visiting Maryden?"

If anything, Cole's face grew brighter.

"Don't tell Ruby?"

Krem seriously considered telling Cole she already knew, and that her, Varric and Bull had already made the prerequisite threats to Maryden's life, employment, and ability to play the lute.

In the end, he decided to let Cole squirm for a bit longer, patting him on the shoulder.

"We won't say a word, right Dennet?"

The Horsemaster grunted.

Eventually, they pulled the group off of the horses, and started to make their way back up the mountain to Skyhold.

At one point, Ruby tripped and Krem stepped forward, catching her by the arm to steadying her.

She yanked her arm free, rushing ahead.

What was that?

"He's kind of cute. Reminds me of one of the knights in the stories Yang would tell me," Cole muttered in Krem's ear, causing the Tevinter man to jump.

"Don't do that!" Krem hissed, trying to keep the blush from showing.

Cute? Nobody had ever said he was cute. Even when his mother had forced him to wear those awful dresses and set him up with equally awful boys it had always been 'Pretty' or 'Beautiful'.

"Do what?"

"Read her thoughts. Those are private!"

"Ruby doesn't mind, neither does Varric or The Iron Bull."

'That's because you might as well be their kid,' Krem thought, 'most people don't take kindly to someone rummaging around in their head.'

"Still, don't do that."

"Ok…?"

"Hey!" Krem and Cole looked up at Yang's call, seeing them further up the path, "You coming, or what?"

Krem did so, putting what Cole said out of mind.

-X LINE BREAK X-

Ruby leaned back as the crystal stopped, waiting for her advisors to, well, advise.

"You know," Cullen pointed out, "My last name is Rutherford."

"Sorry," Ruby apologized, unscrewing the gauntlet's index finger and checking the Lyrium stored inside. Low. Enough for one enhanced spell, if the need arose. She hoped Dagna figured out how to create that Dust-based substitute she had mentioned soon, "I only remembered it started with a R and had Ford in it?"

The excuse sounded hollow, even to her ears.

"It's fine," Cullen answered, eyes hungerily locked on the glowing blue dust, the only sign weakness being him tightening his grip on his sword and gulping involuntarily.

"Oh Maker, Cullen, I'm sorry," Ruby hurried to reseal the Lyrium, "I wasn't-"

"Don't worry about it," Cullen waved it off, "if I caved in every time I got so much as a whiff of Lyrium, I would make a very poor Commander."

"No, really, I'm supposed to think of these-"

"It's fine, Ruby," Cullen's tone brokered no argument, "you have enough to worry about without worrying about me."

'You're my friend, I don't want to hurt you,' Ruby wanted to argue, but knew there was no point.

They were all too headstrong.

Maker, she could already imagine how Orlais would try to twist this, 'Inquisitor bullies recovering Lyrium addict!'

"Inquisitor," Josephine drew their attention, "Back to the matter at hand, it would have been better if you had managed to dictate terms for the meeting instead of allowing Ozpin to do so, but given the circumstances, I understand why you didn't."

Translation: There was no way we were ever going to have the upper hand here, but you could have at least tried.

"Do you think you'll be able to work with this?"

"I should, but there are a few things I need to ask you."

"Go ahead."

"Vacuo is almost assuredly in our pocket, so there is no need to worry about whoever they send. Vale will be a bit harder. Do you know any way to curry favor with them?"

"Maybe bring in some of the people we helped?"

"Maybe. Now, Mistral."

'I don't know,' Ruby thought, 'you're the ambassador, I'd rather be out killing dragons and demons!'

Wasn't it funny, that the last Inquisitor of the old Inquisition and the first Inquisitor of the new one were so similar? How would the Chantry twist her story when she was dead and gone?

They'd probably obliterate any mention of her being a mage, and her support for the Collage. Bull, Solas, and Dorian would be wiped from the history books. Some family would no doubt try to claim to be her descendants, and she would go down as a loyal member of the faith.

"I think a better question," Cullen stepped in, causing Ruby to send a silent prayer of thanks to whoever was listening, "is what we do if they decide they don't like us."

"They can go straight to hell."

"I'm serious."

"So am I. I am sick of being rewarded with things getting worse for us. I stopped the Breach from getting any bigger, and the Chantry wanted to ship me off to Val Royeaux for execution. We stop the Mage-Templar war and shut the Breach, and we lose Haven. We stop Corypheus, we stop Hakon, we stop the Qunari, and Orlais and Ferelden reward us by trying to tear apart everything we spent the last four years working towards. If Remnant wants to reward us for trying to stop a disaster by doing the same, then, pardon my Orlesian, they can go fu-"

"Ruby!"

"It's the truth! The Inquisition is _mine_ and I'm not going to roll over and let them destroy it!"

"We need to at least try to play nice-"

"And we will, but the minute they try to take you all away from me is the minute their opinion becomes irrelevant!"

"We-"

"Enough!" Cullen yelled, cutting them both off, "Listen, let's continue this tomorrow, when tempers are less heated. Inquisi- Ruby, we aren't going to leave you, even if I have to personally march the entirety of our forces to their doorstep, they won't be stopping the Inquisition. Even if they tried, you can hide us."

Ruby closed her eyes, feeling the dragon blood pumping just beneath the surface of her skin.

"Fine. I'm going to find Krem and Cole."

-X LINE BREAK X-

"Dragons in the sky, the fighting has begun

Shadow versus light, and who will stand when it is done?

Magisters and fright, his destiny it calls

Inquisitor your hand will reprimand before he falls!~"

Weiss looked around the cramped building, feeling completely out of place, and wondering if she should have stayed behind with Ruby at the horses. Once they had entered, they had immediately been dragged over by a group of people.

The Herald's Rest Tavern was filled with handmade tables, and rickety, hand carved chairs. The lighting was low, and the woman on the first floor was singing off key.

It made the singer want to go down there and throttle her.

They were crowded around a table on the second floor, watching Cole, a dwarf, and a woman with pointed ears and facial tattoos like Dalish throwing knives at a target. Yang and a black haired man had started drinking, downing flagons of mead.

Weiss looked out the window, out onto the grounds.

Men and women were practicing with mass produced swords, crossbows, and bows and arrows. There were even a few guns.

Weiss looked at the sign over the door to the tavern. On it sat the image of a woman with long blond hair, a crown sat on her brow and light seemed to radiate from her. She wore a simple white dress, and she was carrying another figure in her arms.

This one was covered in a plain white shroud, the only color coming from a green flame covering their left hand as it hung limply.

Huh.

Weiss reached over, tapping Blake on she shoulder. The Faunus, and Weiss was still trying to figure how she should feel about her keeping that from them, looked away from where she was watching the minstrel.

Weiss raised an eyebrow at that.

"You can't think she's good?"

"No," Blake shook her head, "Just thinking how much I would need to pay Heir or Argent to steal Maryden's lute and smash it."

"More than you have on you," the long eared woman said, throwing another knife. So she was either Heir or Argent.

"Damn," Blake muttered into her flagon, casting another glare at Maryden.

"Just drink some more," the mustached man sitting across from Yang, wearing finely made, if archaic, clothing said, "Once you have a few pints of mead in you, even the worst music sounds like fine silk."

"The day that," a man with a shaven head and pockmarks muttered darkly, "sounds like silk is a dark day indeed."

A laugh rippled around the group.

"What did you want?"

"Do you know what that," Weiss pointed to the sign, "is supposed to mean?"

Blake looked at it, before stopping.

"I, I actually don't. Guys?"

The woman sitting across from Blake, who had to be around Rose's age, spoke up. Her hair was pulled into a tight bun.

"Blessed Andraste, carrying the Herald back to us through the Fade to seal the Breach."

That explained nothing.

"It's a picture of the prophet of their religion carrying Rose out of the realm of dreams," Blake translated.

Still nothing.

The pockmarked man apparently understood her confusion, and elaborated.

"There was an event known as the Conclave, Divine Justinia, the leader of the Chantry, gathered the Templars," he nodded at the woman with her hair and a bun, "and Mages," he pointed at himself, "we were supposed to hash out an agreement on the end of our war. Instead," he threw a hand forward, a blast of fire exploding inches from it and making a loud bang. Almost nobody at their table flinched.

"Rion, no magic in the tavern!"

"Sorry, Cabot!" Rion yelled at the bartender, "Anyway, everything went tits up. Whole temple exploded, wiping out everyone inside, and tearing open the biggest hole in the Veil ever seen. Best we've been able to figure out, it would have consumed the entirety of southern Thedas before it even _thought_ about stopping. Demons were raining out of the damn thing and it was causing lesser rifts to tear open from Orlais to Ferelden to as far north as Kirkwall and Ostwick. Korbin, did any appear in the Deep Roads?"

"Couple. It wasn't that bad, Demons are somehow _dumber_ than your average Darkspawn."

"We don't create," Cole mumbled, "they don't know how, all they can do is copy. I can now, it's nice."

"I was actually there when the damn thing went up, or well, in Haven, wouldn't be here if I had been at the Conclave," Rion continued on, ignoring Cole, "Looked like it was the damn end of the world. Couple of Hunger Demons smashed right through the roof of the tavern I was in."

"Falling, forced, fearful. Warped and scared and angry," Cole again, his voice somehow carrying over Maryden's singing, "'Why isn't anything changing? Why is everything so quiet? Why is everything so _real_?'"

"So, world is ending, people are dying, and a group of soldiers make it to ground zero. The Inquisitor pops out, safe and sound except for the Mark on her hand, and they saw a glowing woman behind her. They had her stop the Breach. People say it was Andraste who brought her to us, that's why she's the Herald. Nobody knows what happened there. At least, if she does, she isn't talking."

"Carrying Qrow, Carrying sins. Penny, Pyrrha, Powerless. Should have been faster, should have been _faster_. Guilt grinds a gully. Orb falls at my feet. Reach down and pick it up. Where had it come from? Pain, where was I? Where were Qrow and Jaune? Fear. Grimm, men holding severed hands, woman with burning eyes, and laughing men with scorpion tails. Coming up the slope, coming for me! Turn. _Run_. Glowing light like a mother, reaching for me, comforting me, calls out to me. Climbing, they're still after me, the glowing is brighter, rushing for the portal, men and woman on the other side, holding up their hands, trying to block against something. Dead. She cries, I turn, grabbing her by the arm as the horde of Nightmares grabs her, trying to save her. Blades cut into me, cutting away memories, regrets, parts of who I am. Not saving Penny and Pyrrha, not staying to help Dad with Yang, not being there to stop Weiss and Blake from leaving, never telling Blake- she slaps my hand away from the blades crying, 'go!', and is carried away by the horde. Too slow, again. What good is my Semblance if I'm always too slow? I turn, run through the portal. Towering, tired, tied. A woman with short black hair and a tabard with a spiked eye come forward as I step out, 'can't be her, she's just a girl', catches me as I fall. Safe. I am safe."

Why did Weiss get the feeling Cole knew _exactly_ what had happened there, and just told them?

The door slammed open, and Rose prowled into the room.

"Krem, outside, five minutes."

Then she turned and left.

...Ok then.

-X LINE BREAK X-

Ruby couldn't help but giggle as the horse ate the apple slice from her hand.

She had been helping Dennet feed the horses, preferring to stay here than join the rest at the tavern.

She really didn't get how people enjoyed alcohol. It kept her from noticing things, and made her dizzy, and made it hard to use her Semblance right.

"Thanks for helping me with this, Little Inquisition," Dennet said, pouring oats into a bucket and putting it down in front of the largest horse, "Normally I'd have people to help me with this, but we're spread a bit thin at the moment."

"Whose horse is that?"

"Inquisition's, it's good for the rare occasion where she actually goes out in full armor. Mostly dragon hunting, or when they know there's a big battle."

Ruby's eyebrows met.

"But she has her Aura, she doesn't need armor."

Dennet laughed throwing a piece of meat at the scaled creature in one of the stalls.

"That's what she said at first, but she relented and let Blacksmith and Arcanist make her a suit after Haven. She doesn't wear it as often as she probably should, considering how often she gets in trouble, but there's no harm in making sure she have a backup plan incase her Aura gives out in the middle of a siege, you know?"

"Does that happen often?"

"Sort of, I'm sure you understand but before the-" Dennet glanced around, before gesturing to his left hand, "Inquisition liked to lead from the front. Got her and her team into all sorts of sticky situations, trapped in the Fade fighting a giant fear demon, fighting one of the strongest Grey Warden regiments on Thedas. She likes it, I think."

"Like what?"

"Being in harm's way. The thrill of the fight. I can't imagine her ever settling down. I would have thought she would after Haven."

"What happened there? Rose mentioned something about Red Templars and Cory- Coryph- something?"

"Corypheus," Dennet answered for her, "It was just after Inquisition and the mages closed the Breach. There was a party going on when the guards caught it. Huge army coming over the mountain, apparently the Templars had been taking Red Lyrium, it's like the regular stuff, but more powerful, it also drives people insane. Something about singing, from what Samson said."

Ruby nodded, wondering if she should point out that she didn't know what Lyrium _was_.

"We launched our trebuchets at them, caused an avalanche. That's when Corypheus revealed his trump card. A High Dragon full of Red Lyrium, tore right through our defenses. We escaped through a tunnel used by the Dragon Cult that used to live there. Inquisition stayed behind to fire the last trebuchet at the mountain above Haven. We were sure she had died."

"But she didn't."

Obviously.

"It was a close thing. When she finally caught up with us, she had a set of bite wounds across her chest, was staggering around and acting like she didn't know where she was. Calling for her mother, your mother. We- we thought we were going to lose her anyway. Commander found her first. Tore off that fur coat of his to cover her up, and grabbed as many blankets as possible. The healers said not to get our hopes up, that she probably wouldn't make it. She pulled through, brought us to Skyhold. Lot of people started believing then. I know I did."

"Believing what?"

"Just, believing. That she was Andraste's Herald. That we could beat the bastard. How could we not? When you look at how many miracles happened that day. Inquisition should have died four times over. She managed to get us out of there with only a few deaths. We wouldn't have survived if not for her, and we didn't have any place to go. That's when we realized I suppose."

"What?"

"She had been leading the Inquisition for a while. She wasn't in the beginning, but somewhere along the way, she had taken charge. More than Seeker, Commander, or Nightingale. It was inevitable, I guess, the Inquisition only had a lot of its credibility because people thought she was the Herald. All that's left was to make it official. That's when she became our Inquisitor."

Ruby didn't say anything.

She had enough trouble leading Team RWBY, she couldn't imagine leading something as big as the Inquisition.

How did Rose do it? They were the same person.

"Ruby! We're heading out!"

"I- I need to go."

"Feel free to come back, Maker knows I don't get visitors often anymore."

-X LINE BREAK X-

Blake watched the people coming for the meeting.

It had been a week since they had arrived back at Beacon, and it seemed like everyone had crawled out of the woodworks to be here.

Atlas, Vacuo, Mistral, the SDC, VNN… the White Fang and Menagerie.

Blake shrunk back from the window as mentor and student met, even though she knew logically there was no way Sienna and her father could see her.

"Worried?" Rose's voice came from behind her as the door swung open and closed.

"A bit, but-" Blake stopped as she turned, jaw dropping as she took in what Rose was wearing.

"Go ahead, laugh it up," Rose said in resignation.

Blake promptly did so, desperately trying to stifle the laughter at her best friend's outfit.

It wasn't even that it was that funny, though there were parts that even Blake could tell were of questionable fashion. It was just Ruby has such a look of irritation on her face, her neck and ears red.

It was still cute.

The least noteworthy part was a pair of breeches that were almost completely covered by the thigh high boots Ruby had on. Then there was the jacket.

It was, on the surface, standard military formal wear. Understandable, the Inquisition _was_ a military organization, even if the two groups Blake regularly met, and worked, with (the Inner Circle and the agents directly below Cullen and Leliana) didn't act like it most of the time, being sent on the most dangerous jobs the Inquisition had meant they had been given almost free reign on their gear and the leadership was willing to turn a blind eye to their various quirks.

Actually, thinking about it, Blake wasn't wasn't sure which of those categories she fit under. She had gone on several jobs with Rion, Cillian, Korban (or Katari or Belinda, depending on how much muscle or support they needed), and Hall (or Thornton), and one _really_ wierd mission with Tamar, Zither, and Sidony when she was being acclimated to the Inquisition, but she was also allowed to the Inner Circles meetings, to the monthly game of Wicked Grace, and answered directly to Ruby. Rose. Whatever.

She considered both groups her friends (except Sidony and Tamar, but Blake didn't think the Necromancer and dragon cultist had any friends, nor wanted any.)

Anyway, back to the uniform.

The first hiccup was the golden embellishments, including two shoulder pads.

Then there was the giant blue sash around her stomach and over her right shoulder. Then the belt cinched around _that_.

Ruby had also been forced to ditch the gauntlet, instead wearing a pair of gloves that went up to her elbows.

"Yeah. I know. It's the standard Inquisition formal wear. It was this or a dress, and if I went with the dress Leliana would force me into high-heels and I'm _not_ going through that again."

"It isn't that bad."

"I'm just lucky it's red. You didn't answer my question. Are you worried?"

"A bit," Blake looked out the yard, where people had started to trickle towards the dining hall, where the tables had been moved to make room for a giant circular one, "but I have to face them at some point. What about you?"

"Can't be any worse than Halamshiral," Ruby cast a look out, "Hardest part will probably be avoiding eviscerating Weiss's dad."

Blake snorted, "Ever met him?"

"No, but he took Weiss away from us, and that's enough to make me hate his guts. Plus, Fairbanks says he was a dick to the elf Fairbanks has as a secretary while they were there because he thought she was a Faunus, so _that's_ enough to tick me off."

Blake wasn't sure if that was because she 'was a Faunus', or because he wasn't nice to the staff, or because it happened to be a member of the Inquisition Jacques Schnee insulted. From what she had gathered from Cillian, Rion, and Hall, the Inquisition was almost _shockingly_ egalitarian by Thedas's standards, but Ruby always went out of her way to be nice to Skyhold's serving staff and was violently protective of the people under her command.

"Is there any reason you're here, instead of down there? I was planning on going down with Varric and Cole in a bit."

Best to let the opening drama play out.

"Not quite. You're going as my bodyguard," Rose moved her hand, drawing attention to the second uniform at her side, "and everyone's heading down at once. A show of unity or something."

…

…

…

"What!?"

"You're going as my bodyguard, and everyone's being forced into the monkey suits. So hurry up and get it on."

"You don't need a bodyguard, Cullen's going to be there!"

"I don't. It's a political move. Josie's hoping that if we introduce you near the beginning we can win your father over."

"That's- that's devious."

"Welcome to the Grand Game. While this isn't going to be nearly bad as the Orlesian court, every move we make is going to be watched. Now hurry up," Ruby pushed the outfit into her hands, "the sooner we get down there, the sooner we can get this over with and I can go back to repressing the side of me that's good at this political bullshit."

…

She didn't move.

…

"Well?"

"Can you at least get out?"

"Oh. Yeah. Sorry."

Rose's face lit up, and she walked out of the room.

Blake looked down at the black version of the uniform.

'Well,' she thought, throwing off her normal clothes, 'at least this can't get any worse.'

-X LINE BREAK X-

Ruby sat at one of the smaller tables, listening to all the important people being announced by a man holding a large Scroll.

"Jacques and Whitley Schnee, of the Schnee Dust Company!"

"That's your dad and brother?"

"Yeah," Weiss seemed to be doing her best avoid being noticed.

"He doesn't look that bad," Ruby said.

"He's trying to sit at the big table," Krem muttered standing up with Katari.

"Where are you going?"

"To move him. There's exactly enough chairs for the people who are supposed to be there, and he isn't."

"He's not going to be happy about that," Weiss pointed out.

"I don't doubt it. I know the type."

Ruby watched as, through a combination of intimidation and physical dragging, Whitley was relegated to the opposite side of the room. Several people threw disgusted looks his way as he threw insults at Katari for his horns.

The crier coughed, before awkwardly continuing.

"Chieftain Ghira Belladonna and his wife Kali, of Menagerie!"

Say what now.

At the exact same moment, Weiss dropped her head onto the table, before doing it again.

"Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. I knew I had heard that name before!"

"Uh… Weiss?"

"She's the daughter of the previous leader of the White Fang," Weiss said, head still planted on the table, "no wonder she was so angry. I need to apologize to Blake."

"Sienna Khan of the White Fang!"

The Faunus woman strode into the room, her mouth closed into a scowl.

"Is it just me," Ruby mumbled, "or did the Inquisition move towards the door?"

They had, lining up on either side.

"And finally-"

Krem barked something in a different language, and everyone snapped to attention.

"-The Inquisition. Commander Cullen Rutherford of Ferelden, Lady Ambassador Josephine Montilyet of Antiva, Sister Nightingale Leliana of Orlais, Lady Seeker Cassandra Pentaghast of Nevarra, Viscount Varric Tethras of Kirkwall, Ser Thom Rainer of Orlais, Magister Dorian Pavus of the Tevinter Imperium, Knight-Enchanter Vivienne of Orlais, The Iron Bull, Ser Cole Tethras, Lady Inquisitor Rose of Vale, Ferelden, and Kirkwall, and her bodyguard Blake Belladonna of Menagerie!"

They came in at that order, creating quite a different impression than the first time Ruby had seen them.

Instead of a bunch of weird people wearing a hodgepodge of different clothing, they were all wearing the same uniform, only the color differing.

Cullen, Josephine, Leliana, Cassandra, and Rose took seats at the table while the rest situated them around the room. Blake standing right behind Rose with her hands folded behind her.

The message was clear. The Inquisition was not something you wanted to take lightly, they were organized, perhaps even more so than some of the Huntsman guilds.

"So," Rose said with the utmost confidence, "whose first?"


	4. Chapter 4

Yo! *Dodges hale of weaponry* Wait, wait! I got a new chapter for you! *Sighs as it stops* So, hopefully we won't go almost a year between updates again, that bit with Korbin was a bitch to get out.

\- X Line Break X-

Blake pushed down the smile that threatened to spread on her face. Her father's gobsmacked expression was amusing, and alleviated some of the tension she felt as her hands pressed against the gun hidden beneath her jacket at the small of her back.

Technically, she shouldn't have it. It had been agreed upon that nobody was to bring weapons to the meeting, but Rose had insisted, as she handed out the break-action revolvers, that was political talk for 'everyone has a weapon, and if you think otherwise, you're an idiot who's not long for this world.'

Blake wasn't sure if that was true, or if Rose just had spent so much time around Orlais that she was paranoid. If it was paranoia, considering what she had heard about Orlais, she couldn't blame Rose, even if everyone knew it was a useless gesture as the guns weren't of a high enough caliber to break through Aura.

Blake scanned the room, the training Leliana and Rose had given her before Beacon kicking in.

Rion was seated behind Sienna Khan, Argent was behind Jacques Schnee, Katari and Krem were next to Whitley, and Belinda and Korbin were next to Team RWY.

Blake could practically hear Rose whisper in her ear, despite the fact that the Inquisitor was seated in front of her, slouching in her chair, with her head resting on the glove hiding her missing hand. What had they stuffed that with? 'Good, you found the clues, now put them together.'

Leader of the SDC had an assassin behind him, his son had two of the Inquisition heavy hitters. A mage behind the leader of the White Fang, with a templar across from him to stop collateral damage. Not assassination, Ruby and Leliana would keep that as the last resort, and never so obviously. Insurance, then. But why? Adam. They were lucky to have gotten the leaders of the SDC and White Fang in one room, revealing that Adam had intended to destroy Vale risked setting off the powderkeg.

"I'll start," Sienna spoke up, eyes locked onto Ruby, "You've been attacking the Vale branch of the White Fang for months. Why?"

"Maybe I don't like the White Fang?"

"If that was true, you'd have been harassing the Vacuo branch. You have more power there, people say you can't go into a town in east Vacuo without running into Inquisition forces. So no, it's something about the Vale branch in particular. What?"

Rose raised a Scroll.

"You won't like the answer."

"I'm used to disappointment."

Everyone watched as Rose placed the Scroll on the panel next to her, connecting it to the holographic projector on the center of the table.

A train showed up.

"This model was only used on one occasion," Rose said, "Mountain Glenn."

"So?"

Rose taped the scroll, and the train shrunk down to fit into the model of Mountain Glenn.

"When Mountain Glenn was abandoned, the subway system was left mostly intact. They only had a series of walls built over them. Roman Torchwick, with assistance from White Fang members supplied by Adam Taurus, intends to use this train to deliver several bombs along key points between Mountain Glenn and Vale proper."

Here, Rose tapped the Scroll, and the holographic train started to move down its tracks. As it did, the cars decoupled and exploded.

"They intend to use this to unleash Grimm into the city, damaging trust in the Huntsmen. Especially because they intend to do this during the Vytal festival-"

All the blood rushed from Rose's face.

"Son of a- Korbin, take Cillian, Pala and Luka, grab as much money as you need, stock up, and then ship off to Mountain Glenn. That's fine with you all, right?"

Blake watched as the train rammed into the wall, before reverting to its starting point and doing it again. Through it, she could see General Ironwood lean over and whisper something into Ozpin's ear, a serious look on both faces as Ozpin nodded his consent.

Sienna looked through it, "And you have evidence of this?"

Rose held out a hand, Josephine handed an envelope over, before Rose handed it to Blake.

What? Oh, right.

Blake walked around the table, completely aware of the fact that every set of eyes in the room, plus several cameras, were following her.

Finally, she stopped between Sienna and her mother. Resolutely not making eye contact with her mother, she handed over the envelope.

As she turned to return to her place behind Rose, her mother caught her hand.

Blake steeled herself and pulled herself free, trying to ignore the lump in her throat. She didn't look back, knowing that if she saw the stricken look on her mother's face, her resolve would crumble.

She hadn't even made it half a dozen steps before Rose held up her hand, stopping Blake next to her father. The message was clear.

Blake looked back, to where her mom was half-risen from her chair. Blake felt her breath hitch as she walked back towards her mom.

Her mom stood, rushing to meet her.

Blake's resolve cracked completely, tears running down her face as she hugged her mom for the first time in over two years, her dad coming to join them.

Unfortunately, the moment was broken by Sienna slamming her hand to regain attention.

"Who the fuck is 'Cinder', and why is she ordering my men around?"

-X Line Break X-

Silver eyes rolled back towards Sienna, red bleeding into them.

"Not one for touching reunions then?"

Rose couldn't keep some of the blistering sarcasm from leaking through.

The Tiger, for her part, didn't flinch. Rose could respect that.

"She's the one in charge of this. She browbeat both Torchwick and Taurus into work for her. Don't ask me how, I don't know."

"Who is she, what does she want?"

Rose shrugged, breaking eye contact with Sienna to look at Ozpin, "She's just a Maiden who thinks that Vale and the CCT are a Relic of the past."

Ozpin's eyes widening, his hand gripping his cane tighter.

"She's after the CCT?" he asked despite knowing the answer, drawing attention away from how Rose had phrased it, his eyes asking a different question, 'you know?'

"Yes."

That caused an explosion of whispers, every group arguing with each other.

"What's your lot in this? The Inquisition clearly isn't from here, but you seem to know quite a bit," Ironwood finally asked.

"I have an old debt to repay Cinder. She wronged me fiercely, and I have every intention to see that wrong payed back with interest."

"So revenge," Rose tightened her grip on the table as Jacques Schnee started to speak, "You aren't half as noble as you pretend you are."

"Funny, because you aren't half as noble as you think I am," Rose sent back the barb at him, before focusing on Ozpin, "Did you know Merlot is alive?"

Ozpin's grip tightened further.

"Is he working with her?"

"Not that I know of. He might be though, they're both good with Grimm."

"Where is he?"

"An island, I don't know it's exact location, but I can give you a rough estimate. I'd eliminate him quickly if I were you, we shouldn't have any distractions from Cinder."

"Where's Adam?" Sienna growled, baring her teeth and letting her nails dig into the wood, "I'm going to gut him like a fucking fish."

"The Inquisition captured him a week back, that's where we got those," Rose nodded to the paper, "but we can't account for any other rogue agents beyond the ones listed in those files."

"They better start running," Sienna's eyes were running across the paper, drinking in the names, "there's going to be a purge when I'm done here."

She threw the paper at Ghira's seat, lips curled into a snarl of disgust.

The Chieftain walked over, picking up the page and reading the names.

"I know some of these people. They're so young," his eyes met Rose, "do you think they might stand down if we make it clear Adam was working outside the White Fang's goals?"

"I don't know," Rose admitted softly, "but I doubt it. When we arrived, we had to do our own investigation into rogue agents in the Inquisition. We managed to convince some of them that the path they were going down wasn't in anyone's best interest, but others," Rose shook her head, "others were so convinced they were doing the right thing, we had no choice but to stop them."

"Kill them, you mean," Jacques accused.

"Yes," Rose turned to look at the CEO, "We killed them. I took no pleasure in doing it, but the ideology they were working for was terrible. We do what we must to save the world, no matter how much we hate it. I have worked with people and organizations that disgust me for the good of the world, thrown away deeply held beliefs for it, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

Cullen reached up, and Rose realized she had stood up at some point.

Jacques appeared to be trying to keep a sneer off his face.

"Enough," Ozpin slammed his cane into the ground, "we are here to hash out an agreement about how the Inquisition and the governments of Remnant will cooperate, not throw blame. Inquisitor, might I suggest stepping out to calm yourself?"

Rose did so.

-X Line Break X-

Blake walked out, feeling her parents gaze on her as the door slid shut.

Ruby was seated on one of the benches, head between her legs. As Blake approached the Inquisitor, she saw something bright red pulse through her veins.

Blood was brown in the veins, Blake remembered reading somewhere, due to the lack of oxygen. Even in the arteries, blood didn't glow red.

Blake sat next to her leader, trying to find something to say. In the end, she went for the easiest, and most insensitive, route open to her.

"You alright?"

Of course she wasn't.

Ruby gave a hollow chuckle, a deep, otherworldly tenor having added to her voice.

"Just angry at myself. I'm normally better at controlling myself, you know? 'All of us can be tempted to harsh conduct.' But, I've pictured what I would do, what I would say to that-" Ruby gestured with her left arm, "and now I'm here, and I _can't_! It ticks me off, you know?"

"Yeah."

"And then he has the gall to act better than me!" Ruby tightened her right hand, and Blake noticed the tinkling of metal against metal.

Looking down, Blake saw the long chain clenched in Ruby's hand, her fingers pressed against one of the links.

"What's that?"

"Huh? Oh, this?" Ruby held up the chain, allowing Blake to see that each link had a red name carved into it. The oldest ones were heavily smudged, but Blake was just able to make out the names on the first three. Seggrit. Felix Alexius. Roderick Assignon, "It's something I had made after Haven. It's a silly little trinket, really."

"Can I see it?"

"Yeah, sure," Ruby handed over the chain, causing Blake's eyes to widen as she realized just how long the chain was.

There were about two hundred links, and even though each link was less than inch long, it made Blake wonder where Ruby had hidden it.

As she went down looking through the names, Blake wondered who they were. Until she reached near the bottom, where a familiar name sat.

Raleigh Samson.

"These are the names of everyone you executed?"

Ruby jolted back, "Maker, no! Do you think I'm a barbarian? It's the names of everyone who died because of orders I gave. Whether on the field of battle or otherwise. It happens, bad info, accidents, we lose people. That's why I always dread sending you on a job," her voice dropped, "every time I send you out of Skyhold, I could be sending you to your death. I've always been afraid of adding a name from the Inner Circle to the chain. I don't want it to be you."

Blake felt oddly touched, "I'm not going to go anywhere."

"I hope not," Ruby smiled, a blush on her cheeks, "I'm… I'm happy to have you here again. Now," Ruby coughed, storing the chain in her jacket, "Let's get back in there, eh? Doesn't make the Inquisition look good if their leader isn't there for these things."

\- X Line Break X-

Iron Bull leaned over to Varric, feeling quite worried. "Hey, uh, you don't think Boss is confessing to Blake, do you?"

"Why?"

"Because it's still in Josephine's month. I already owe her more money than I really want to think about, so…"

"Oh. Well, shit. So do I."

"I'm losing money either way, I just don't want to owe her _more_."

"When did you bet?"

"I didn't think she would last a month," Bull shrugged at Varric's look, "What? We could all tell she was head over heels for Blake. She's read that book more times than I care to count, and we know it's not because she likes it."

"That doesn't mean she was 'head over heels' for her. She _is_ , of course, but reading a book doesn't mean that. She clings to that locket, and she isn't in love with Princess."

"You have a point. But come on, Boss doesn't tend to break from a path once she starts it, remember when she nearly killed herself training after Haven even though we all told her to stop? She hardly argued with Cole about Blake before giving up."

"The Kid and Nightingale also went behind her back to drag Kitten to Skyhold, what was she supposed to do? Let Kitten go and say 'Sorry, I had no plan for this to happen, bye now!'? That would have looked really bad. And you know how Petals feels about making the Inquisition look bad."

Read: Ruby was almost cripplingly terrified of making the Inquisition look bad. While people supported the Inquisition, she was able to throw her weight around in Orlais, but the minute they lost it, they ran the risk of having to fight off Celene's army.

Bull wondered how Ruby felt about the Empress of Orlais rewarding the Inquisitor reuniting her with Briala by constantly trying to undermine her power. At some point, he would need to steal her diary. Even getting Ruby drunk (a task that involved spiking dragon blood and distracting her long enough for her to ingest it without realizing you had done so) tended to see her ramble on about rumors going around Skyhold than anything political.

It was funny, yeah, but wasn't helpful in gathering information.

Bull felt like punching himself when he realized what he had just thought. Gather information for who? He was Tal-Vashoth. The Ben-Hassrath wouldn't be calling anymore. He wasn't Tal-Vashoth, Tal-Vashoth was a Qunari concept, and he didn't follow the Qun anymore. He wasn't a Hissrad, he was The Iron Bull.

Still, he supposed some habits die hard. Katari still used his "name".

"They're coming back."

"Do you think they hooked up?"

"Petals is blushing, but I don't think so."

Iron Bull wasn't sure how he felt about that. On one hand, he wanted his Boss to be happy, on the other, he _really didn't want to owe Josephine any more money._

"Calmed down?" Ozpin asked.

"Yeah," the Boss stretched, cracking her neck, "Sorry. I don't appreciate being accused of enjoying killing my men."

"Understandable. Hopefully," Ironwood shot a look at Jacques, "we won't have a repeat of that."

-X Line Break X-

Ghira watched Blake and the Inquisitor walk in, still trying to decide how he felt about _that_ particular revelation.

While he was certainly glad that she had left the White Fang, given the path Sienna (and, as it turned out, Adam) was dragging them down, it was clear just by the way they were dressed that they were a paramilitary organization.

A rather old fashioned one too, he noted, as Blake pulled out the Inquisitor's chair. Ruby, in turn, bowed. The antiquated gesture was fluid, like she was used to it. One arm behind her back, and the other at her front. Then she stood, taking her seat and looking at the Valen council members.

At least they seemed to treat faunus fairly, if the fact that two of the people who had entered with the Inquisitor, one of whom was his daughter, were faunus was any sign.

"Do you want to go first? We do operate in Vale quite a bit."

The man raised one eyebrow, "Then shouldn't you extend the same offer to Vacuo? You spend just as much time, if not more, there."

Ruby's eyes flickered to the Vacuo council representative, before jumping to the headmistress of Shade, Sauda, and then back to the Valen councilor.

"I'm not worried."

Ghira heard Sauda stifle a laugh, the dark skinned woman bringing one hand up to her mouth. The leathery skinned man beside her had suddenly taken the same expression one would see on someone who had come across the rotting carcass of an animal.

It was a well known fact that the council of Vacuo was little more than a group of figureheads, and that what little power there was sat with the headmaster of Shade. Or headmistress, as the case was. It was equally well known that there were members of the Vacuo council who were incredibly unhappy with that arrangement.

"We don't want you in our kingdom," he spat.

The grin on Ruby's face didn't shrink. Sauda's laughter grew worse.

"And what does the Headmistress think?"

"Oh," Sauda's eyes twinkled, "I'm fine with it. We only have so many Huntsmen, and I've never been picky about where we got our support from. I've been keeping an eye on your operations, and you haven't done anything to make me suspect you're lying too much."

Ruby nodded, before looking back at the Valen councillor, "So? What do you want?"

-X Line Break X-

Korbin stepped forward, smashing his shield into the White Fang member's leg. He heard Luka give a slightly mad laugh as she threw a vial over his head.

"Cillian!"

A spark followed after it slowly and a transparent blue shield sprang to existence in front of Korbin. Just before the spark struck a young man ran up, pounding on the barrier and mouthing something.

Pala reached out, dragging him into the shield just in time.

"Thank you," he gasped, "thank you."

The cave shook as the spark hit the gas, rocks falling down on several of the smoking Faunus bodies.

"Need I remind you that we're trying to _stop_ explosions here?"

"Sometimes you need to start what you're trying to stop to succeed in stopping in!" Luka defended herself.

'I hope she realizes that doesn't make any sense,' Pala signed to Korbin, the Silent Sister taking advantage of the fact that nobody else could tell what she was saying, 'you'd think she would be more careful, after years in a cave in.'

"Apparently not," He grunted, joining Cillian in moving the rocks. Together, the arcane warrior and dwarf moved the stones so they could get through.

The other two dwarves, and the faunus, slipped through the hole, followed by Cillian, who had to duck to get his willowy frame under the rocks, and Korbin.

"So," Korbin said, "you sure seemed willing to change sides. What's that about?"

"This isn't what I signed on for. I wanted rights for faunus. Not to be a terrorist."

Same as Blake.

"well, you sure are lucky we came along," Luka cut in, grinning widely.

That probably wasn't quite true, Korbin thought as he toed one of the charred corpses, seeing as they had just killed people he probably knew.

"Come on," Korbin grunted, "we need to keep moving if we want to stop them."

"How did you even find us?" The faunus was following them, "we haven't been allowed to have contact with the out-"

"Faunus," Cillian cut him off, and Korbin drew his axe as Pala and Luka did the same with their weapons.

Four of the five faunus had guns, while the last had a huge sword with a serrated blade on it, a motor moving it.

"Stand down," Cillian said, "and we'll let you leave peacefully."

"Shouldn't we be saying that to you?" the leader growled, revving his blade.

"No," the arcane warrior said calmly, "I'm not the one in danger. Shoot me if you dare," Korbin saw a slight shimmer around Cillian, "but you will regret it."

"He asked for it," the leader jerk his head towards Cillian. The roar of the guns came after the bullets were already hanging in the air an inch from Cillian. The bullets dropped, heavy thunks for each one as the noise of the guns continued to echo through the halls. If Cillian was disturbed by the noise, he didn't show it.

"I see," he closed his eyes for a moment, "I apologize for what you're about to feel."

Cillian lifted his right arm up, his left holding the staff behind his back before swinging it back down.

The Faunus, as one, were forced into the ground as it shattered and cratered. Korbin saw a couple of chipped teeth fall as Cillian grabbed his staff, swinging it down in a arc.

Flames consumed the faunus, a unstopping pillar of flames raining down on them. After ten seconds, Cillian broke the torrent, leaving four incinerated bodies and one angry swordsman standing up.

"Did you thin-"

Before the faunus finished his sentence, the roar of thunder echoed over him, the lightning from Cillian's hand blasting him off his feet. Korbin winced as he saw the metal wrist guards of their opponent melt, the man's Aura the only thing keeping the metal from fusing to the flesh.

Cillian drew a empty hilt from inside his long robes, a blade springing from it as he span it in his hand.

"Do yourself a favor," Cillian said kindly, "stay down."

The Faunus forced himself to stand with a roar, throwing aside his broken mask and revving his sword.

"You really don't have much in the way of self preservation instincts, do you?" Cillian's dark skin glimmered with bluish-white light, before he launched himself forward, icy after images following his path as the blades met.

The motorized sword groaned as it struggled with Cillian's lightning coated sword. Cillian didn't look fazed as he struggled with his larger opponent.

"Thank you," the arcane warrior's voice hadn't lost its serene quality.

"For what-?" the faunus's question was cut off as Cillian's other hand appeared through his back, a pulsing piece of muscle clenched tightly as Cillian pulled his hand back.

"Ewww," Luka said with a grin, "why don'tcha do that more often, Cil?"

"You want him to do it _more_?" the faunus on their side gagged.

"It's not normally efficient," Cillian said as he dropped the heart, "it just happened to be in this case. Come, we still have a train to stop."

\- X Line Break X-

Kali sighed as she sat down at the table, eyes drifting towards the side of the room to where the Inquisition was gathered. Including Blake. They had decided to break for now, reconvening tomorrow to continue the painful process of finding a relationship between the Inquisition and everyone else that both sides were content with. Vacuo had been easy, it was borderline lawless anyways and Sauda was right about them lacking Huntsmen. Everyone knew how bad it was there, so Shade was rarely anyone's school of choice and flying in huntsmen from other places cost more money.

Despite huntsmen being advertised as complete free agents, it wasn't quite true.

As if on cue, Ghira gave a deep, rumbling noise, somewhere between a growl and a sigh.

"What's wrong?" she asked gently.

"I… I'm not sure how to feel about that," Ghira pointed with his chin at the mass of people.

The Inquisitor was still in her chair, resting in it like it was a throne as she discussed something with the woman wearing a gold and blue version of the outfit and the woman with red hair. Josephine and…?

Despite her sitting at the main table, she had barely joined in the negotiations, leaving that to her four peers, merely looking around the room with dark eyes and occasionally leaning over or back to speak quietly with the Inquisitor, the blond haired man, Cullen, or Blake. None of them ever responded beyond nodding or shaking their head, at which point she would make a note on the Scroll in front of her.

Josephine was looking at her own Scroll, which was nestled in the crook of her elbow. Judging by her gestures, she was scrolling through a list. Occasionally one of the others would say something, where she would mark it on the Scroll.

Blake was talking with the blond haired boy, the giant faunus man, and the short man. Occasionally the boy would reach for his carefully parted hair, at which point his hand would be batted away by Blake, the other two or, in one memorable instance, the red headed woman, who did it without looking away from the conversation.

"Do you think they're-?"

What, worse than the Fang? Using her? Kali didn't finish the question.

Once it had become clear Sienna hadn't been involved in Adam's plans and that the Inquisitor had a very valid reason for harassing the Fang members in Vale, it had become even more clear that the duo were shockingly, and slightly worryingly, similar. Both were slightly cynical but still focused towards what they believed to be the greater good, both were quick to anger and just as quick to calm down, both were (or at least, Kali suspected for the Inquisitor) Faunus, and both held thinly veiled disdain for Jacques Schnee.

"We need to talk to her," Ghira said, sounding tired, "about the Fang, at the very least."

Kali nodded.

At the same moment, the Inquisitor stood, stretching. The Inquisition started towards the door, before the Inquisitor looked back at Blake, saying something. Blake turned around, walking right towards them.

Once she was there, she raised one hand, coughing into her hand. Her eyes flickered back to where the Inquisition was before back to them, "The Inquisitor formally requests that you join us for dinner."

What.

Behind Blake, Kali saw the Inquisitor's head jerk back, before she looked at Josephine.

Kali stood up alongside Ghira, who's lips had pulled tight. Kali could already tell he had just ticked off several strikes on how long he was willing to give the Inquisition the benefit of the doubt.

As they approached, however, the Inquisitor called out, "Dear Maker in the Fade! Did you actually use the 'formal request' bit?"

"Yeah," Blake said, drawing the word out, "it's what Josephine drilled in during training."

"Yeah, for people you don't know! Those are your parents, not foreign dignitaries!"

"Well," Cullen coughed, "technically…"

"Ok, so they're also foreign dignitaries, but they're your parents first! How hard is it to go up to them and go 'Hey Mom! Dad! It's good to see you after so long! Hey, me and my friends are going to get a bite to eat and we wanted to know if you wanted to come with?'"

"Blake would never talk like that," the black haired woman, Cassandra, pointed out.

"You get the point!" The Inquisitor said with an explosive sigh, "It makes us look like we brainwashed her like we're the bloody Qunari, no offence Bull," the last part was directed to the Faunus.

"It's what happens," Bull shrugged.

"Right," the Inquisitor sighed, "let's go get Drei and some food, ok? I'm starving and I want to eat as much as possible."

-X Line Break X-

Rose immediately fell into her trademark slouch as they sat, once again giving the airs that she was hardly worried, or cared, about what was going on.

In truth, it had been a deliberately cultivated image. Ruby had been sixteen when she became Inquisitor, they had needed to create the idea that she wasn't intimidated by posturing nobles and angry criminals.

She smiled across the table, towards where Blake was seated with her parents, "Mr. and Mrs. Belladonna, it's nice to finally meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too," Kali said, smiling calmly as she folded on top of the table, "but I'm afraid you have us at a disadvantage. We know almost nothing about you. How did Blake come to join the Inquisition?"

"Mom!" Blake hissed, bow moving back.

"Blake was…" Ruby hesitated for a second, "A close friend of mine, before I became Inquisitor. I offered her a position when I got a chance."

Not technically a lie. Ruby had been friends with Blake, and she had offered her a position in the Inquisition when the chance arose. That said chance came from Cole and Leliana taking matters into their own hands while she was busy bringing most of the Inner Circle to Vacuo and showing them how life worked in Remnant didn't need to be said.

"That's…" Kali trailed off.

"You'd make her your bodyguard that quickly?" Ghira inserted himself, "Blake's skilled enough, I'm sure, but that seems rather fast."

"Isn't that what you do with friends?" with someone you love, "Trust them with your life?"

Ghira nodded, "I se-"

There was an explosion in the distance, followed by warning sirens and Ruby's Scroll going off.

"Inquisitor," Korbin's gruff voice came through the device.

"Report," Ruby said.

"We weren't able to stop the train," the legionnaire said, "there was this silent _bitch_ in our way."

Ruby knew who he was talking about, her face still haunted the Inquisitor's dreams sometimes, a sadistic smile replaced with a look of shock as the wind ripped her away, "The four of you couldn't beat her?"

"She retreated eventually," Korbin grunted, "messed Luka up something awful."

"Do you need medical support?" Ruby asked sharply.

"Not at the moment, ma'am. We stopped to patch her up. Probably not the right choice in hindsight, but…"

Ruby didn't comment either way. There was nothing wrong with making sure a friend survived, but she understood where Korbin was speaking from.

"So Grimm are in the city?" The Inquisitor hid her dread under a barrier of calm.

"Yes, Ma'am. I'm sorry."

"You did your best. I should have thought to raid it before now," That was her job, to think of these things, "Can you hold your position?"

"Did I hold off an assault of Darkspawn for two days?" Korbin laughed, "Ma'am. We can hold for as long as it takes."

"It shouldn't be too long," The Inquisitor said, "I'll bring a team to you and the Huntsmen are probably already gearing up."

The Inquisitor could hear the nod in Korbin's voice, "Then you and the Huntsmen should hurry up, otherwise there'll be nothing for you to fight! Cillian, pour some fire on the bastards!"

The Inquisitor stored her scroll, "Bull! Cole! Dorian! With me! Drei, come on, boy!"

"What's wrong?" Cullen asked, half risen from his chair.

"The team failed, there are Grimm in the city. The five of us will buy time for you all to get back to Beacon and get your gear. Come on!"

"Wait!" Blake had stood up, "What about-?"

The Inquisitor looked down at their missing arm. Slowly, a red aura bled down the remaining flesh, then over the glove. It twitched, then opened, the bloody aura making it look less like a human hand and more like a set of claws.

"Blake," the Inquisitor gave a fanged grin, aware her eyes were the same bloody red as her hand, "Even a crippled Dragon has claws."

"Darling," the Inquisitor looked over at Vivienne who threw something at her, "Catch!"

The Inquisitor caught the thrown hilt, spinning it while another memory rose up.

 _Ruby pushed herself up, stretching with a yawn. Reaching over, the newly made Inquisitor grabbed a book from her bookcase, walking out onto the balcony and sitting down with it. Only then did she actually bother to check which book it was._

 _ **Mortalitasi: For the Living, the Dead.**_

 _Opening the book Viuus had given her upon their first meeting, Ruby began to read with a zeal more akin to Bla-_

 _Ruby's grip on the book tightened until the leather creaked, before she forced the thought aside to focus on the book in front of her. As she did, she listened to the sounds of the troops sparing and men repairing Skyhold._

" _Put it on the table, Dustin," Ruby called as she turned the page as the door to her room opened, "I'll eat it later."_

" _When the porridge and tea has run cold, and you're rushing around getting ready to train with Lord Chancer," a voice that was most certainly not Dustin spoke, putting down the tray and easily moving the table until it was between the two of them._

" _Cullen!" Ruby smiled at the Inquisition's commander, shutting the book, "What are you doing here? Do you need supplies? Tell Josephi-"_

" _Eat," Cullen cut her off, pushing the tray towards her. On it was a steaming mug of tea, a bowl of porridge, two pieces of toasted bread and a small jar of honey, "I insist."_

" _That's not important right now," Ruby pushed aside the tray… or tried to. Cullen held the tray firmly in place, "Cullen?"_

" _Ruby Rose," Ruby sunk slightly at the tone Cullen's voice had taken. It reminded her of what her dad or Qr- Ruby slammed that wound shut- would sound like when she was in trouble, "You will eat your food, now."_

" _Ok?" Ruby said reluctantly, reaching out to add the honey to the other three._

" _So," Cullen's voice kept the tone._

" _So?" Ruby asked._

" _I came in here last night," Cullen said, "You wouldn't believe what I found."_

" _Uh… why'd you come to my room?" Ruby asked._

" _I had a feeling I was needed. Guess what?"_

" _You weren't?"_

" _Quite the contrary. I found the Inquisitor passed out in a chair, again. Imagine that."_

" _I was in my bed when I woke up!"_

" _Yes. I recruited Leliana to change you so we could move you to your bed. Again."_

" _Ok…?"_

" _And then we found a tray of food, uneaten-"_

" _I wasn't hungry," Ruby defended._

" _-So this morning," Cullen continued on, "I stopped by the kitchen to speak with your manservant-"_

" _I hate that phrase," Ruby cut in._

" _-and said manservant," Ruby got the feeling Cullen was doing it deliberately, "Said that, not only is said lack of eating at night common, but when he came to remind you of whatever training is first on your itinerary, half the time you had not eaten your breakfast either."_

 _Ruby squirmed in place, "I'm normally busy-"_

" _So me and Leliana went around to each of your trainers, including Josephine, and they all said that it was far from unheard of for you to skip lunch either," Cullen folded his arms, "explain."_

 _Ruby frowned, "Explain what?"_

" _Why," Cullen said, "You seem determined to starve yourself to death."_

 _Ruby frowned, "I'm not trying to starve myself."_

" _Then why have you all but stopped eating?" Cullen asked._

" _I'm just," Ruby squirmed again, "I'm busy. Training."_

" _When I had suggested getting you a specialized trainer, I had meant one," Cullen said, "Not_ _ **six**_ _. You're training at all hours. If you're not, you're either in the war room or up here reading."_

" _You're always working too," Ruby argued._

" _I also take breaks. I eat, or play chess with Dorian-"_

" _-You like chess?" Ruby asked excitedly, "Why didn't you tell me that? Chess is gre-"_

" _I sent you an invitation to play half a weak ago," Cullen's rebuttal took the wind from Ruby's sails, "I'd assumed you didn't care for it, seeing as you never gave any form of response."_

" _Oh," Ruby said, "I- oh…"_

" _Ruby," Cullen said, worry in his voice, "You've been acting strange ever since we got to Skyhold. Is," he searched her face, "is something wrong?"_

" _I-" Ruby looked away, blinking back tears, "My life's not mine anymore, Cullen."_

" _What's that supposed to mean?" The worry had gotten worse._

" _The- the Inquisition," Ruby said, "They need me. We were destroyed at Haven, Cullen. I was nearly_ _ **eaten**_ _," A broken sob forced itself forth, "Seggrit burned to death, Assignon was stabbed."_

" _That's not anything any of us could have changed. Corypheus had an army_ _ **and**_ _an Archdemon."_

" _And how's that going to change because we're in Skyhold?" Ruby asked, "I need to get stronger. No matter what it takes."_

" _Because a sixteen year old girl suffering from starvation and a lack of sleep will stop an Archdemon," Cullen rebutted, standing up._

" _We needed to find some way," Ruby argued._

" _And we're looking," Ruby froze as Cullen pulled her into a hug. Maker, when was the last time someone hugged her? "But you running yourself into the ground training isn't helping. I'm not asking you to stop, just…" Cullen sighed, "just take better care of yourself. For all of us."_

" _I-" Ruby stopped, returning the hug and trying to hide her tears, "Ok."_

" _Goo-" there was a knock on the door, "Come in!"_

" _Madam!" an Orlesian girl pushed open the door, "Commander Helaine has requested to see you!"_

" _Yes," Ruby nodded, pulling out of the hug, "Thank you."_

The Inquisitor smiled as she spun the spirit blade, a white blade springing from the hilt before her Aura rushed up it, bloodying it, "Thanks. Come on, you lot!"


	5. Poll

Poll time! It's on my profile, as usual.

This message will selfdestruct upon the completion of the next chapter.


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